Nigeria’s Debt Rises To 26.2 Trillion Naira
The Debt Management Office (DMO) says Nigeria’s total debt stock, based on the figures for September 2019, stands at N26.215 trillion.
Concise News understands that the country’s total debt stock comprises the debt of federal government, 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Director General of the DMO Ms Patience Oniha made this known at the presentation of September 2019 Public Debt Data.
“The comparative figures for September 2018 was N25.701 Trillion which implies that in the 12 months period to September 2019 the Total Public Debt grew by 16.88%,” she said in Abuja.
On the borrowings, Oniha said: “Borrowing came in to fund the budget which included capital projects so when you finance capital projects, you create an entire economy around that in terms of employment, in terms of materials that you buy, in terms of what happens in the environment so there are vendors selling all sort of things so that is the description. We are talking about the multiplyer effect of borrowing to finance capital infrastructure and what we generate.”
She also said: ”It is voluntary on the part of the creditor you don’t have to take a promissory note. You can wait when government has money in its budget to pay you.
“There are provisions in the budget just that they are not large so you can’t be sure when you will get it but you can wait there is no compulsion around it.”
“The increase in the New Borrowings in the Appropriations Acts between 2015 and 2017 was due to the need to stimulate growth and create jobs in the economy as contained in the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP),” she added.
The DMO boss also said that “whereas the 2019 Appropriation Act provided for a total New Borrowing of N1.605 trillion split equally between Domestic and External, only the domestic component of N802.82 Billion was raised due to the late passage of the 2019 Appropriation Act and the expectation that the implementation of the 2020 Budget would commence on January 1, 2020.”
Amongst the highlights of the DMO’s achievements for 2019 was the issuance of a 30-year FGN Bond for the first time.
She explained that the 30-year Bond “was to meet the investment needs of long-term investors such as insurance companies and support the development of the domestic financial markets in areas such as mortgages.”
