Nigeria’s Total Public Debt Stock Surges to N166.79trn

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that Nigeria’s total public debt stock increased by 4.67 per cent or N7.44 trillion to N166.79 trillion as of June 30, 2026, from N159.35 trillion as of March 31, 2026.

It was observed that the domestic component of the debt accounted for a larger percentage of the borrowing at N91.59 trillion, while the external component was N75.20 trillion.

Business Post reports that the multilateral end of the external debt accounted for 45.42 per cent at N24.76 trillion, while bilateral accounted for 12.12 per cent at N6.61 trillion, with commercial at 42.47 per cent at N23.16 trillion.

It was further revealed that Nigeria owes the World Bank Group over N20 trillion, and owes the African Development Bank Group about N2.2 trillion.

Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest economy, has about N18.6 trillion in Eurobonds to clear, and owes China over N5 trillion.

The debt office disclosed that the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for N14.01 trillion of the total debt stock, comprising N9.42 trillion in external debt and N4.59 trillion in domestic debt.

The federal government’s domestic debt portfolio is dominated by FGN bonds, with an outstanding value of N64.84 trillion, representing 74.53 per cent of the Federal Government’s N87 trillion domestic debt.

Nigerian Treasury Bills accounted for another N19.48 trillion, representing 22.39 per cent of FGN domestic debt, while other instruments included FGN Sukuk at N1.19 trillion, FGN savings bonds at N122.45 billion, green bonds at N47.36 billion and promissory notes at N1.22 trillion.

In addition, the promissory notes comprised N206.82 billion in naira-denominated instruments and N1.01 trillion in foreign-currency-denominated notes, while other instruments, specifically UFTF FGN securities, accounted for N100 billion.