Nigeria’s public debts hit N32.92tr

By John Ofikhenua, Abuja

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday said states and federal debts were N32.92 trillion as at December 2020.

Its data entitled: “Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt (Q4 2020)” pasted on its website, said while N12.71 trillion was external, representing 38.60 per cent of the total debt stock, N20.21 trillion, representing 61.40 per cent was domestic.

NBS said: “Nigerian states and federal debt stock data as of 31st December 2020 reflected that the country’s total public debt portfolio stood at N32.92trillion.

“Nigeria’s total public debt showed that N12.71trillion or 38.60 per cent of the debt was external while N20.21trillion or 61.40 per cent of the debt was domestic.”

The data explained that further disaggregation of the country’s foreign debt showed that $17.93billion of the debt was multilateral; $4.06billion was bilateral from the AFD, EximBank of China, JICA, India, and KFW while $11.17billion was commercial which are Eurobonds and Diaspora Bonds and $186.70 as promissory notes.

According to NBS, the total states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) domestic debt was put at N4.19trillion with Lagos accounting for 12.15 per cent of the debt stock while Jigawa has the least debt stock in this category with a contribution of 0.74 per cent.