FG’s domestic debt servicing hit N2.2trn in 9 months

Documents from the Debt Management Office (DMO) showed that the Federal Government spent a whopping N2.21 trillion to service domestic debts in the first nine months of 2018.

According to DMO statistics, the Federal Government spent N633.77 billion in the third quarter of the year to bring the total expenditure on domestic debt servicing to N2.21tn in the first nine months of the year, making government to have already overshoot the N2.01 trillion it had expected to spend in the whole of 2018.

The statistics further showed that in the third quarter, N447.01bn was spent on FGN Bonds, N9.37bn on Treasury Bonds; N168.6bn on Nigerian Treasury Bills; N8.3bn on Sukuk Bond and N281.35m on Savings Bonds.

In the second quarter, a total of N656.59bn was spent on servicing domestic debt. This comprises of N359.23bn spent on redemption of Nigerian Treasury Bills and a total of N297.37bn spent on interest charges on the Federal Government’s domestic debt.

Read also: FIRS remits N4.62trn to Federation Account in 11 months

The Federal Government spent N923.3bn in the first quarter of the year. The breakdown showed that a total of N643.63bn was spent on the payment of interest, while it spent a total of N279.67bn on the redemption of matured Nigeria Treasury Bills.

This high cost of debt servicing is a reflection of the rising debt profile of the country, especially domestic debts. Government has however said it was planning to cut down on short term domestic debts and focus more on long term maturing debts in the new year.

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