Nigeria’s debt servicing rises to $101.29m in January

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the country’s monthly debt service rose by $31.46m in one month to $101.29m in January 2022.

According to data released on debt service repayment, the apex bank stated that figures indicate a 45 percent increase month-on-month.

The data showed that the government spent $148.57m and $85.23 on debt service repayment in November and October 2021 respectively.

The apex bank also added that the government spent $69.83m on debt service repayment in December.

The Debt Management Office had disclosed that Nigeria’s outstanding debt stood at N39.57tn or $95.78bn as of the end of December 2021.

It added that total external debt gulped 40.08 per cent, totalling N15.86tn or $38.39bn in the period under review.

The total public debt rose from N27.4tn or $80.05bn as of the end of December 2019 to N32.92tn or $86.4bn as of the end of December 2021.

Meanwhile, the CBN has shown how the fuel pump price increased by 91% in six years under the Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

From December 2015 to December 2021, the cost of the fuel pump increased from N87 per litre to N165.77, according to the data released by the apex bank.

Following the introduction of the price modulation system by the Federal Government in 2016, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) became the country’s sole importer of petrol.

The value of crude oil on the international market rose a few months after the raise in May 2016, but the value of Nigeria’s currency, slite to about N500/dollar, down from roughly N197.