DMO says Nigeria’s debt profile hits N145trn in December 2024

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has put Nigeria’s total public debt at N144.67 trillion as of December 31, 2024.

The debt office revealed this in its latest publication on Nigeria’s debt portfolio on Friday, April 4.

It indicates that the country’s debt stock rose by 48.58 per cent from N97.34 trillion reported as of December 31, 2023.

In dollar terms, Nigeria’s debt profile stood at $94.23 billion as of December 31, 2024 relative to $108.23 billion as of the same period in 2023.

Analysis of the report shows that Nigeria’s public debt worsened by N47.32 trillion in one year under review.

The surge in public debt was driven primarily by significant increases in both external and domestic borrowings.

According to the report, Nigeria’s external debt rose by 83.89 per cent to N70.29 trillion from N38.22 trillion.

This sharp increase was largely attributed to new external borrowings obtained during the year, as well as the impact of the naira depreciation, which inflated the naira equivalent of dollar-denominated debt.

Domestic debt also increased by 25.77 per cent to N74.38 trillion from N59.12 trillion

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the debt stock rose by N2.35 trillion from N142.32 trillion reported as of September 30, 2024.

The increase can be traced to the additional foreign loans obtained within the last three months to the end of 2024, coupled with the weakening of the naira against major international currencies.

A look at the report indicates that the composition of the debts of December 2024 shows external debt constituted 48.59 per cent against 51.41 per cent of domestic debt.

The continued increase in external borrowings, however, suggests a growing reliance on foreign debt to bridge budgetary shortfalls.