Nigeria’s public debt hits N24.4 trillion

&NewLine;<p><br> Ms Patience Oniha&comma; Director-General&comma; Debt Management Office &lpar;DMO&rpar;&comma; says the total public debt of Nigeria as at Dec&period; 31&comma; 2018 is N24&period;38 trillion&period;<br> Oniha&comma; who made the disclosure during a news conference in Abuja&comma; said that the figure comprised debt owed by the Federal Government&comma; States and Federal Capital Territory &lpar;FCT&rpar;&period;<br> She explained that the figure was N2&period;66 trillion higher than the N21&period;7 trillion recorded as at Dec&period; 31&comma; 2017&comma; and represents a year-on-year growth of 12&period;25 per cent&period;<br> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Further details provided in the report showed that more progress was made towards achieving the target Debt Stock mix of 60 per cent &lpar;Domestic&rpar; and 40 per cent&lpar;External&rpar;&period;<br> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The share of domestic debt dropped to 68&period;18 per cent from 73&period;36 per cent as at Dec&period; 31&comma; 2017 thereby achieving a mix of 68&period;18 per cent and 31&period;82 per cent in the debt stock&period;”<br> She said the federal government loans accounted for 78 per cent of the figure&comma; while states and the FCT accounted for 22 per cent&period;<br> The Federal Government&comma; she said&comma; has an external debt stock of N6&period;4 trillion and Domestic at N17&period;11 trillion&comma; culminating in N19&period;23 trillion&comma; while the states and the FCT have external debt of N1&period;25 trillion and N3&period;85 trillion domestic debt&comma; culminating in N5&period;15 trillion&period;<br> Oniha said that the Federal Government’s domestic debt stock includes N331&period;12 billion Promissory Notes issued to Oil Marketing Companies and State Governments in December 2018&period;<br> She added that the strategy of using relatively cheaper and longer tenor external funds was achieving the expected objectives&comma; some of which were to create more space for other borrowers in the domestic market&period;<br> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Other objectives are to extend the average tenor of the debt stock in order to reduce refinancing risk and increase external reserves&comma;” adding that the implementation of the strategy led to an injection of N855 billion through the redemption of Nigerian Treasury Bills &lpar;NTBs&rpar; in 2018&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;