Nigeria’s domestic borrowing rose by 132 per cent to reach N51.96 trillion at the end of 2023.
The director general of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha, disclosed this recently while speaking to CNBC Africa on the need to have an African Debt Managers Initiative Network.
According to her, Nigeria’s new domestic income grew to N7 trillion in 2023 alone.
“I am happy to say that in 2023, the new domestic borrowing was N7.04 trillion, and as we speak, that has been raised in full.
“So, I don’t need to explain how we raised it, but it has been raised. When you compare it to the N3.5 trillion of last year, it tells you that the market has debt for us to raise money,” he said.
According to available debt records, Nigeria’s total domestic debt was N22.21 trillion at the end of December 2022. This increased significantly by the end of June to N48.32 trillion in 2023.
DMO explained that the major addition to the public debt stock was the inclusion of the N22.71 trillion securitised FGN’s Ways and Means Advances, which was reflected in domestic borrowings and the N7.04 trillion new domestic borrowing this year, resulting in the N51.96 trillion domestic debt figure as of 2023.
