By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The debt profile of Nigeria will likely reach N77 trillion by the time the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari expires on May 29, 2023.
Yesterday, at the breakdown of the 2023 budget signed into law a day earlier by Mr Buhari in Abuja, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Ms Patience Oniha, warned that the debts would continue to rise to that level due to fresh borrowings captured in this year’s appropriation act.
Recall that the DMO said as of the third quarter of 2022, Nigeria’s debts stood at N44.06 trillion, and with the projected new borrowings of N10.57 trillion in this year’s budget, and the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means borrowed from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the total debts would hit N77 trillion.
“You will see a significant increase in public debt to N77 trillion, that is, if you add the new borrowing depending on market conditions of N5 trillion.
“The other area of the debt stock we are trying to highlight is to say, the debt stock is also growing from the issuance of promissory notes, which are not true borrowing as such by the government,” the DG said at the Public Presentation and Breakdown of the Highlights of the 2023 Appropriation Act.
“While the debt is growing because there is new borrowing, revenue is receiving significant attention.
“Like DMO always says, you can’t talk about debt without talking about revenue. We need the two to work together,” Ms Oniha stated further.
