By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said the public debt stock of Nigeria increased by 20 per cent year-on-year to N42.84 trillion ($103.31 billion) in the second quarter of 2022 from N35.46 trillion ($86.57 billion) in the second quarter of 2021.
In its Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt Report for Q2 2021 to Q2 2022, released in Abuja on Wednesday, the NBS stated said the external debt stood at N13.71 trillion ($33.46 billion) in the second quarter of 2021 and increased to N16.61 trillion ($40.06 billion) in the second quarter of 2022.
It also stated that domestic debt was N21.75 trillion ($53.10 billion ) in the second quarter of 2021 but jumped to N26.23 trillion ($63.24 billion) in the second quarter of 2022.
It, however, noted that the share of external debt increased from 38.66 per cent in Q2 2021 to 38.78 per cent in Q2 2022, while domestic debt decreased slightly from 61.34 per cent in Q2 2021 to 61.22 per cent in Q2 2022.
On state profile analysis, the NBS stated that Lagos recorded the highest domestic debt in Q2 2022 with N797.30 billion, followed by Delta with N378.87 billion and Ogun with N241.78 billion.
On the other hand, Jigawa recorded the lowest debt with N45.13 billion, followed by Ebonyi and Kebbi with N59.11 billion and N60.41 billion, respectively.
Additionally, Lagos external debt was the highest in Q2 2022 at $1.27 billion, followed by Kaduna with $586.77 million and Edo with $268.31 million.
The report added that the lowest was recorded in Borno with $18.69 million, followed by Taraba and Yobe with $22.28 million and $23.09 million, respectively.
Business Post recalls that in January 2020, the Lagos State government sold N100 billion series III bond to investors under the N500 billion bond programme.
The state government under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said proceeds from the fixed rate senior unsecured bonds would be used to finance physical and social infrastructural development projects across the state.
In the 2021 budget of N1.164 trillion, the Governor said N971.02 billion would be sourced from three components; N723.81 billion from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), N71.81 billion from capital receipts, and N175.40 billion from federal transfer.
However, the N193 billion deficit, according to him, would be from borrowings, with N100 billion to be sourced from the capital market, N52 billion ($137 million using an exchange rate of N379/$1) from external sources and N41 billion from internal sources.
In December 2021, the state sold N137.3 billion bonds to investors at a coupon rate of 13 per cent per annum, with the funds used to address part of the infrastructure deficit in the metropolis, including the 10-km Regional Road in Eti Osa, six-lane Lekki-Epe Expressway, Ijeododo Road in Alimosho and Oba Sekumade Road in Ikorodu, among others, according to Mr Sanwo-Olu.
