Debt Service To Gulp 34% Of Govt Revenue In 2022—Finance Minister

The Federal Government is to spend N3.61trn servicing Nigeria’s debt burden in the 2022 fiscal period.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this on Wednesday at the public presentation of the 2022 budget which was signed into law last week by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Minister said that the N3.61trn to be used to service the nation’s debt represents about 34 per cent of the 2022 projected revenue of the Federal Government.

Nigeria is experiencing a worsening debt level as the country’s indebtedness rose by N2.5trn between July to September last year.

The country’s debt burden as revealed by the Debt Management Office has now hit a record N38trn or $92.626bn as of the end of September 30, 2021.

In the second quarter of 2020, Nigeria’s debt was N35.4trn.

The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was recently under attack on the country’s rising debt levels

Nigeria’s debt service to Gross Domestic Product ratio had hit 73 per cent based on figures released by the Finance Minister in October.

But despite the fact that Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio is one of the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ahmed still maintained on Wednesday that the country’s debt is still within sustainable limit.

She said that government borrowings are done for capital project execution and that the government has the ability to meet it’s obligations to creditors.