Nigeria’s Debt Hits N16.29t

September 22, 2016

nigeria-debt

By Dipo Olowookere

Statistics from the Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that Nigeria now owes about N16.29 trillion.

This figure shows what Nigeria’s total debt liability is as at June 30, 2016.

In June 2015, the debt profile of the country stood at N12.12 trillion.

This indicates that in one year, Nigeria’s total debt rose by N4.17 trillion, or 34.41 percent.

It was learnt that the domestic debt of the Federal Government alone stood at N10.61 trillion as of June 2016, up from N8.4 trillion in 2015.

The indication of this is that within 12 months, the FG’s domestic debt profile rose by N2.21 trillion or 26.31 percent.

Also, the domestic debt of the states stood at N2.5 trillion at the end of June 2016 against N1.69 trillion it was in July 2015.

The DMO explained that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s official exchange rates of N283 to $1 as of June 30, 2016, and N197 as at December 2015 were used as exchange basis in arriving at the naira equivalent of the foreign debt status.

Recently, the DMO said refinancing 30 percent of the FG’s domestic debt amounting to N2.56 trillion within the next one year posed a high risk to the economy.

A document by the DMO titled ‘Nigeria’s Debt Management Strategy 2016-2019’, revealed that at least 30 percent of the nation’s domestic debt would fall due within a one-year period.

It also added that refinancing the 30 percent component of the domestic debt posed high risk to the economy because of high interest rate.

Dipo Olowookere

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan.

Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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