Nigerian govt loses N2.34trn to debt service in six months, as loan burden grows

Within six months of 2023, over N2.34 trillion was spent by the Federal Government of Nigeria to service the country’s debt, which rose to N87.38 trillion at the end of June 2023.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) said N1.49 trillion was disbursed to service debt in the first quarter (Q1) of this year and N849.58 billion was expended in the second quarter (Q2).

According to the DMO report, the amount spent on debt service fell by 43.04 per cent quarter-on-quarter, as it slowed in the second quarter, the same month the fuel subsidy was removed by President Bola Tinubu.

It was revealed that domestic debt gulped N874.13 billion out of the amount disbursed for debt servicing in Q1 2023, and foreign debt was serviced with N617.35 billion or $801.36 million.

Also, in the second quarter, N565.88 billion was spent on servicing domestic borrowings, with N283.7 billion or $368.26 million going into the cost of servicing external debt of the Nigerian government.

Meanwhile, at the close of the first half of this year, the total public debt had increased by N37.53 trillion or 75.29 per cent to N87.38 trillion, from N49.85 trillion recorded at the end of March.

The significant increase in the total public debt was due mainly to the addition of the N22.71 trillion securitised ways and means advances to the federal government from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Although new borrowings also contributed to the increase in the total public debt.

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