Nigeria’s total public debt may hit N118.37tn in the next three years, findings by The PUNCH have shown.
The figure was based on analysing Nigeria’s current debt profile and the debt projections in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper 2024-2026.
According to the new MTEF/FSP, the Federal Government plans to take N26.42tn loans between 2024 and 2026.
The fiscal policy also indicates that debt servicing will gulp N29.92tn in three years.
The data show that the national government plans to borrow N7.81tn in 2024, slightly less than the N8.84tn targeted for the same year in the previous MTEF/FSP.
A breakdown for 2024 shows that the Federal Government plans to get N6.04tn from domestic lenders and N1.77tn from foreign creditors.
By 2025, the Federal Government plans to borrow N8.54tn, which is also less than the N10.62tn targeted for the same year in the previous MTEF/FSP.
A breakdown for 2025 showed that the Federal Government plans to get N6.42tn from domestic lenders and N2.12tn from foreign creditors.
The Federal Government plans to borrow N10.07tn by 2026, which consists of N8.94tn domestic loans and N1.13tn external debt.
Based on our analysis, the Federal Government is reducing its appetite for foreign loans to focus more on borrowing from domestic lenders.
It was also found that the country had borrowed about N5.05tn between January and June from its N9.62tn borrowing plan for 2023, which means that the Federal Government will likely still borrow at least N4.57tn more this year.
The Debt Management Office recently said Nigeria’s total public debt hit N87.38tn at the end of the second quarter.
The figure represents an increase of 75.29 per cent or N37.53tn compared to N49.85tn recorded at the end of March 2023.
The increase was primarily due to the N22.7tn Ways and Means Advances of the Central Bank of Nigeria to the Federal Government and the naira devaluation that added about N13.38tn to the external debt figure.
