FG, states add N1.15trn to debt stock in six months

Data available from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that the foreign debt stock of states and federal government increased by N1.15 trillion at the CBN rate of N305/$ ($3.64 billion) to stand at $15.05 billion from $11.41 billion.

In the Nigerian domestic and foreign debt report released on Tuesday, the bureau revealed that the federal government’s debt accounted for 74% of the country’s total foreign debt and 78.66% of the total domestic debt.

“Nigerian states and federal debt stock data as at 30th June 2017 reflected that the country’s foreign and domestic debts stood at $15.05 billion and N14.06 trillion respectively.”

As of December 2015, the total foreign debt of the federal government and 36 states stood at $11.41 billion while the total domestic debt stood at N14.02 trillion.

“A breakdown of the FGN domestic debt stock by instruments reflected than N7.56 trillion or 68.41% of the debt is in federal government bonds, N3.28 trillion or 29.64% are in treasury bills and N215.99 million or 1.95% are in treasury bonds.

“Lagos has the highest foreign debt profile among the 36 states and the FCT accounting for 37% while Kaduna (6%), Edo (5%), Cross River (4%) and Ogun (3%) followed closely.

“Similarly, Lagos has the highest domestic debt profile among the thirty-six and the FCT accounting for 10.39% while Delta (8.04%), Akwa Ibom (5.18%), FCT (5.09%) and Osun (4.90%) followed in that order.”