Nigeria’s public debt hit N87.91 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2023, following a marginal increase from the N87.38 trillion in the second quarter, the Debt Management Office (DMO), said on Wednesday, in its third quarter 2023 public debt report
The office also informed that the total external debt stock declined by $1.57 billion during the period from $43.16 billion to $41.59 billion.
In a statement, the DMO said the decline is due to the redemption of Nigeria’s $500 million Eurobonds and the first principal payment of $413.859 million from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) $3.4 billion loan obtained during the COVID-19 period.
Nigeria successfully raised N7.043 trillion in domestic debt for the year 2023.
A statement by DMO said: “External debt decreased due to redemption of $500 million Eurobond and the payment of $413.859 as first principal repayment of the $4.3 billion obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2020 during COVID-19.”
“Nigeria’s total public debt increased marginally from N87.38 trillion at the end of the second quarter to N87.91 trillion ($114.35 billion) as of September 30, 2023, following the increase in domestic debt stock of the country, which went up by N1.8 trillion to N50.196 trillion in the three months.
“The amount represents the domestic and external debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory”, DMO said.
“The servicing of these debts in addition to other debts are clear demonstrations of the FGN’s commitment to honouring its debt obligations.”
