The Debt Management Office, DMO, says the nation’s total public debt stock increased to N39.56tn in 2021 from N32.92tn in 2020.
The Director-General, DMO, Mrs Patience Oniha, stated this at a media briefing in Abuja.
According to Mrs Oniha, the total debt includes new borrowings by the Federal Government and the sub-nationals.
She also said that the amount helped in financing the budget deficit, capital projects and support economic recovery.
Mrs Oniha, however noted that despite the debt increase, the country is still within the total public debt stock to the Gross Domestic Product limit of 55 per cent set by the World Bank and 70 per cent set by the Economic Community of West African States.
Mrs Oniha also pointed out that the Federal Government was “mindful of the relatively high debt-to-revenue ratio” and has established certain measures to increase revenues through the strategic revenue growth initiative and the introduction of Finance Acts since 2019.
She said that the new borrowings were raised from diverse sources, primarily through the issuances of the Eurobonds, sovereign Sukuk, and the FGN bonds.
The DMO Director General noted capital raisings were utilised to finance capital projects and support economic recovery.
The office further remarked that a total sum of N2.93tn was spent on debt servicing payments in period under review.
It was gathered that between January and March 2021, the nation spent N612.71bn on domestic debt servicing, while it spent (N415.92bn) on external debt servicing, giving a total of N1.03tn.
While N322.7bn was spent on domestic debt servicing , (N124.36bn) was used to service external debt ,amounting to N447.06bn.
