Lagos leads as Nigeria’s public debt stock hits N42.84trn in Q2, 2022

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 as 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.

This includes external and domestic debt, according to 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.

The NBS stated 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.

It also stated 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.

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

It, however, 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.

On state profile analysis, the NBS stated 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.

On the other hand, Jigawa recorded the lowest debt with N45.13 billion, followed by Ebonyi and Kebbi with N59.11 billion and N60.41 billion respectively.

Additionally, Lagos state 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 noted.

The report added 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.