Nigeria’s Public Debt Increases To N560 Billion In Q1 2019

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has disclosed that Nigeria recorded a marginal increase of 2.3% in the Total Public Debt (TPD) as at March 31, 2019.

According to DMO’s Public Debt Data for Q1 2019 published on its  website on Wednesday, the Total Public Debt which stood at N24.947 Trillion as at March 31, 2019, grew marginally by 2.30% compared to the figure of N24.387 trillion as at December 31, 2018.

The Public Debt Data comprises of the Domestic and External Debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The publication further linked the increase of N560.009 Billion in the TPD in Q1 2019, to Domestic Debt which grew by N458.363 billion.

Increases, the DMO added were recorded “in the domestic debt stock of the FGN, states and the FCT”.

It also noted that the External Debt increased by N101.646 Billion during the same period.

While the ratio of domestic to external debt stood at 68.49% to 31.51% at the end of March 2019, the debt office stated that the total debt to GDP ratio is 19.03% which is within the 25% debt limit imposed by the government.