Nigeria’s public debt rises to N144.67trn in December 2024 – DMO
Nigeria’s total public debt surged to N144.665 trillion ($94.225 billion) as at the end December, 2024.
This record high underscores Africa’s most populous nation’s continued reliance on borrowings to meet its fiscal obligations.
The recent data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO) showed that debt increased by 48.58 per cent against N97.34 trillion or $108.23 billion reported at the end of December 2023.
Despite the substantial increase in local currency, Nigeria’s debt profile witnessed a decrease in dollar terms, falling from $108.2 billion in 2023 to $94.2 billion in 2024. This decline signals a potential easing of foreign exchange volatility’s impact on the overall debt burden.
The report further showed a quarter on quarter growth of 1.65 per cent from N142.32 trillion or $88.89 billion recorded at the end of third quarter, September 30, 2024.
An analysis of the nation’s public debt profile on year on year basis indicated an increase of N47.325 trillion
Nigeria’s external debt grew by 83.89 per cent from N38.22 trillion ($42.50 billion) in December 2023 to N70.287 trillion ($45.780 billion) in December 2024.
The breakdown of external debt shows that the Federal Government accounted for N62.917 trillion ($40.98 billion), while states and the FCT held N7.37 trillion ($4.80 billion).
The rise in external debt within the period was linked to new external borrowings obtained by the federal government during the year, as well as the impact of the naira depreciation, which impacted negatively on the naira equivalent of dollar-denominated debt.
Also Nigeria’s domestic debt took a similar direction, growing by 25.77 per cent from N59.12 trillion ($65.73 billion) at the end of December 2023 to N74.38 trillion ($48.44 billion) in December 2024.
The Federal Government’s domestic debt rose significantly from N53.26 trillion to N70.409 trillion, reflecting a surge of 32.19 per cent.
On the contrary, the domestic debt owed by states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) fell from N5.86 trillion to N3.968 trillion, representing a decline of 32.27 per cent.
An analysis of the domestic debt profile states by States showed that Lagos State recorded the highest debt of N900.191 billion, followed by Rivers State with a total debt of N364.393 billion.
The third position went to Ogun State with a total debt of N211.860 billion while Delta state reported N199.575 billion to claim the fourth position.
