Buhari leaving N42.84tn public debt stock for successor

President Muhammadu Buhari may be leaving a public debt stock of over N42.84 trillion for his successor. This is excluding the new loans that would be acquired between 2022 and 2023 before the exit from office.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt Report for Q2 2021 to Q2 2022 released in Abuja on Wednesday disclosed that Nigeria’s public debt stock rose from N35.46 trillion (US$86.57 billion) in the second quarter of 2021 to N42.84 trillion (US$ 103.31 billion) in the second quarter of 2022.

The NBS highlighted that external debt stood at N13.71 trillion (33.46 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2021 and increased to N16.61 trillion (40.06 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2022.

The Bureau explained that domestic debt was N21.75 trillion (53.10 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2021, but increased to N26.23 trillion (63.24 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2022.

This, it further stated, shows that public debt (in national currency) grew by 20.81% in Q2 2022 from figures recorded in Q2 2021.

The NBS noted that the share of external debt increased from 38.66% in Q2 2021 to 38.78% in Q2 2022 while domestic debt decreased slightly from 61.34% in Q2 2021 to 61.22% in Q2 2022.

The NBS highlighted that Lagos recorded the highest domestic debt in Q2 2022 with N797.30 billion, followed by Delta with N378.87 billion and Ogun with N241.78 billion.

According to the Bureau, “Jigawa recorded the lowest debt with N45.13 billion, followed by Ebonyi and Kebbi with N59.11 billion and N60.41 billion respectively.”

Lagos State also recorded the highest external debt stock in Q2 2022 with US$1.27 billion, followed by Kaduna with US$586.77 million and Edo with US$268.31 million, the NBS stated.

The report revealed that the lowest was recorded in Borno with US$18.69 million, followed by Taraba and Yobe with US$22.28 million and US$23.09 million respectively.