The Debt Management Office (DMO) has disclosed that Nigeria’s public debt stock as at December 31, 2023 stood at N97.341 trillion or $108.229 billion.
In a broader explanation, this figure comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The amount indicates an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for September, 2023 which was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the FGN to partly finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61% of the total public debt stock while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39%.
Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77%) and bilateral lenders (14.02%) or total of 63.79% which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional.
“While the DMO continues to employ best practice in public debt management, the recent and on-going efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability”, DMO said in a statement.