Nigeria’s total public debt has increased by N9.43 trillion in three months to close at N97.34 trillion in December 2023, according to the latest report by the Debt Management Office (DMO).

In US dollar terms, total public debt settled at $108.822 billion, according to the report. According to the DMO, external debt was converted to naira using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) official exchange rate of US$1 to N899.393 as of December 31, 2023.

The total public debt amount comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the Thirty-six (36) state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“There was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for September 2023, which was primarily caused by disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders and new domestic borrowing by the FGN to partially finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriations Act.”

61% of the total public debt stock was made up of domestic debt, totaling N59.12 trillion, while the remaining 39% was made up of external debt, totaling N38.22 trillion, according to DMO.

Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed toward loans from bilateral lenders (14.02%) and multilateral lenders (49.77%), or a total of 63.79%, which are primarily concessional and semi-concessional, in line with the debt management strategy.

Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practices in public debt management, the recent and ongoing efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability.