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National debt: Every Nigerian now owes N619,501 – FG

Every Nigeria now owes an average of N619,501 if the totality of the country’s external and internal debt portfolio is divided per head.

This is according to a data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

It is also based on data by the Debt Management Office,  which says Nigeria’s public debt stood at N134.297 trillion as of the second quarter of 2024 (June, 2024).

With the National Bureau of Statistics putting the country’s population at 216.7 million persons, it would mean that debt per capita stands at N619,501 based on the latest debt figure released by the DMO.

The data from DMO stated that, “The total Public debt is N134tn. This is for public debt stock – external and domestic debt of the FGN (Federal Government of Nigeria), states, and FCT (Federal Capital Territory) as of June 30, 2024.”
The debt data further shows that domestic debt stands at N71.2trillion, while external debt stands at N63 trillion. Of the amount owed, States owe N7.1 trillion externally while the federal government owes N55.8 trillion externally.
States owe N4.2 trillion domestically while federal government owes N66.9 trillion.
The new debt figure of the country put at N134 trillion is a N13 trillion increase from the N121 trillion recorded as of March 2024.

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BUSINESS FEATURED STORIES

Management office gives details of Nigeria’s $103bn debt

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has provided details of Nigeria’s rising debt burden.

It said the country’s total public debt stock, which was N41.60 trillion (100.07 billion dollars) in March rose to N42.84 trillion (103.31 billion dollars) by June.

According to a statement obtained from DMO’s website, the total debt represents the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

It, however, said that while the foreign component of the debt remained at the same level of N16.61 trillion (39.96 billion dollars), the local component increased to N26.23 trillion (63.24 billion dollars).

The local component of the country’s borrowings was N24,98 trillion (60.1billion dollars) as at March 30.

The DMO said that a larger percentage of the external debts were concessional and semi-concessional loans.

“Over 58 per cent of the external debt stock are concessional and semi-concessional loans.

“They were obtained from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Afrexim and African Development Bank, and bilateral lenders including Germany, China, Japan, India and France.

“The total domestic debt stock increased from N24,98 trillion (60.1billion dollars) in March to N26.23 trillion (63.24 billion dollars) in June.

“This is due to new borrowings by the FGN to part-finance the deficit in the 2022 Appropriation (Repeal and Enactment) Act, as well as new borrowings by state governments and the FCT,” the DMO said.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, it said that the total public Debt-to-GDP ratio remained within limits, at 23.06 per cent, while Debt-Service-to-Revenue was still high.

It added that the federal government was committed to increasing revenue so as to reduce the amount that went into debt servicing.

“The Debt-to-GDP as at June 30, was 23.06 per cent compared to the ratio of 23.27 as at March 30. It remains within Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40 per cent.

“While the Federal Government continues to implement revenue-generating initiatives in the non-oil sector and block leakages in the oil sector, Debt Service-to-Revenue ratio remains high,” it said.

Meanwhile, the DMO is set to take its FGN Securities Awareness Programme to Yola on Wednesday and Umuahia on Sept. 29.

According to Patience Oniha, DMO’s Director-General, the programme is designed to sensitise Nigerians on the huge investment benefits in FGN securities, thereby boosting financial inclusion.

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BUSINESS FEATURED STORIES

BREAKING: Nigeria’s external debt now N39tn – FG

The Federal Government has said that as of December, 2021 the country’s external debt was N39.55 trillion.

Patience Oniha, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office, said this on Thursday, while addressing newsmen on the country’s debt situation.

Oniha said that the amount represented the total external and domestic debts of the Federal Government, 36 state governments as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The DMO had earlier revealed that the country’s debt stock as at September 2021, was N38 trillion.

She said that the increased public debt included new borrowings by both the Federal Government and state governments.

“For the Federal Government, it would be recalled that the 2021 Appropriation and Supplementary Acts included total new borrowings of N5.48 trillion
to part-finance the deficits.

“Borrowing for this purpose, and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral creditors account for a significant portion of the increase in the debt stock, ” she said.

Oniha said that the new borrowings were raised from diverse sources, which included issuance of Eurobonds, Sovereign Sukuk and Federal Government of Nigeria Bonds.

“These Capital raisings were utilised to finance capital projects and support economic recovery,’’ she said.

According to Oniha, the country’s debt situation is within reasonable limits.

She, however, said that the Federal Government had taken concrete steps to address revenue challenges which made servicing of the debts burdensome.

“With the total Public Debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio of 22.47 per cent, the debt ratio still remains within Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40 per cent.

“This ratio is prudent when compared to the 55 per cent limit advised by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for countries in Nigeria’s peer group.

“The Federal Government is mindful of the relatively high Debt-to-Revenue ratio and has initiated various measures.

“The measures are to increase revenue through the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative and the introduction of Finance Acts since 2019,’’ she said.

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BUSINESS FEATURED STORIES NEWS & LIFE

‘Nigeria’s loan from China is just $3.59. It cannot just pounce on our asset’

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has said that Nigeria’s indebetness to China is still manageable.

It clarified that loans from China to Nigeria, which presently stood at 3.59 billion dollars, constitutes only 9.4 per cent of the country’s total foreign debt stock of 37.9 billion dollars.

Besides, it said, loan policies would not allow the country to just ponce on Nigeria’s asset.

Ms Patience Oniha, the Director-General of DMO made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.

She also clarified that the loans were largely concessional, as no national asset was tagged as collateral.

NAN reports that in recent times, both the social and mainstream media have been awash with news about some African countries, including Nigeria, facing the threat of losing some critical national assets to the Asian country due to high level indebtedness.

“Nigeria’s total debt stock as at Sept. 30 was 37.9 billion dollars, this figure comprised the external debt stock of the Federal Government, 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.

“But total loans from China stands at 3.59 billion dollars, which is 9.47 per cent of the total external debt. The loans did not require any national asset as collateral; they were largely concessional,’’ she said.

Oniha urged Nigerians to always endeavour to verify sensitive information from official sources before disseminating it.

She explained that before foreign loans were contracted, very sensitive steps were taken by multiple institutions of government to ensure that they were beneficial to the nation.

“Before any foreign loan is contracted, including the issuance of Eurobond, they are approved by the Federal Executive Council and thereafter, the National Assembly.

“An important and extremely critical step is that the loan agreements are approved by the Federal Ministry of Justice.

“An opinion is issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice before the agreements are signed.

“Several measures which operate seamlessly have been put in place to ensure that data on debt are available and that debt is serviced as at when due. Provisions are made explicitly for debt service in the annual budgets,’’ she said.

Oniha explained that the loans agreements provided a number of steps to take to resolve dispute when they arise.

“The first action is that the parties should resolve it within themselves and if that fails, they go to arbitration.

“In other words, a lender, in this case, China, would not just pounce on an asset at the first sign of a dispute, including defaults,’’ the she said.

She explained that the DMO maintained proper records of debts, provided projections for debt service and processed the actual payments for debt service.

She pointed out that those functions were carried out in conjunction with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria

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HEADLINES

FG offers N100bn worth of bonds on June 26

The Federal Government has offered for subscription by auction N100 billion worth of bonds in its June 26 auction, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said.

The offer circular obtained from its website on Tuesday in Abuja, stated that it would sell N30 billion of a five year re-opening issue maturing in April 2023 at 12.75 per cent.

DMO would also sell N40 billion 10 year re-opening bond to mature in April 2029 at 14.55 per cent and another N30 billion 30 year re-opening at 14.80 per cent to mature in April 2049.

According to the DMO, units of sale is N1, 000 per unit, subject to a minimum subscription of N50 million and in multiples of N1, 000 thereafter.
The DMO explained that the bonds were backed by the full faith and credit of the Nigerian Government, with interest payable semi-annually to bondholders, while bullet repayment will be made on maturity date.

Nigeria issues sovereign bonds monthly to support the local bond market, create a benchmark for corporate issuance and fund its budget deficit.