The federal government spent a total of N609,134,926,039.42 to service domestic debt between January and March 2020, the Debt Management Office (DMO), has revealed.
A breakdown shows that N251,352,673,904.74, N158,123,337,830.38 and N199,658,914,304.30 were spent on debt service for the months of January, February and March, respectively.
The N609,134,926,039.42 was expended on federal government debt instruments, including Nigeria Treasury Bills (NTBs), FGN Bonds, and FGN Savings Bond.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s total public debt stock stood at N28.6 trillion as at March 31, 2020.
This comprises a domestic debt of N18.641 trillion ($51.637 billion) and N9.9 trillion ($27.66 billion) foreign debt.
Out of the over N18 trillion domestic debt, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) alone accounted for N14,534 trillion while the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for the balance of N4,106 trillion. The DMO had recently disclosed that as at March 31, 2020, the total borrowing by Nigeria from China was $3.121 billion (1,126.68 trillion at $1/361). This amount, it stated, represents only 3.94 per cent of Nigeria’s total public debt of 28.628 trillion at 361 as at March 31, 2020. Similarly, in terms of external sources of funds, loans from China accounted for 11.28 per cent of the external debt, adding that China is not a major source of funding for the Nigerian government, contrary to widely-held view.