The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, yesterday, said Nigeria’s foreign debt stood at $15.05 billion, while the domestic debt portfolio was put at N14.06 trillion in June this year.
According to the NBS, this represents a growth of $3.64 billion and N0.04 trillion respectively within a six month period.
Investigations by Vanguard showed that the foreign debt profile was $11.41 trillion, while domestic debt was N14.02 billion at the end of December 2016. The NBS in its report on Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt – June 2017 data, showed that $9.67 billion of the debt was multilateral; $218.25 million, bilateral, while $5.15 billion was from the Exim Bank of China, credited to the Federal Government.
The report stated: “The total Federal Government debt accounted for 74 per cent of Nigeria’s total foreign debt while all states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, accounted for the remaining 26 per cent. “Similarly, total Federal Government’s debt accounted for 78.66 per cent of Nigeria’s total domestic debt, while all states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, accounted for the 21.34 percent balance.”
A breakdown of the Federal Government domestic debt stock by instruments reflected that N7.5 trillion or 68.41 per cent of the debt was in Federal Government Bonds. About N3.3 trillion or 29.64 per cent are in treasury bills, while N215.99 million or 1.95 percent are in treasury bonds.
The report read further: “Lagos State has the highest foreign debt profile among the 36 states and the FCT, accounting for 37 per cent; Kaduna, 6 per cent; Edo, 5 per cent; Cross River, 4 per cent; and Ogun, 3 per cent, followed closely.” Similarly, the report stated: “ Lagos State had the highest domestic debt profile among the thirty-six states and the FCT, accounting for 10.39 per cent; Delta, 8.04 per cent; Akwa Ibom, 5.18 per cent; FCT, 5.09 per cent; and Osun, 4.90 per cent, followed in that order.” – Vanguard
