The Director-General of DMO, Mrs Patience Oniha
By BENJAMIN ORISEMEKE, Abuja –
The Debt management Office (DMO) has said that Nigeria’s total public debt as at December 31, 2021 stood at N39.556 trillion or $95.770 billion,
The amount according to the debt management office rose by N6.641 trillion when compared to the 2020 figure of N32.915 trillion or $89.392 billion.
DMO Director General Patience Oniha, who disclosed this at the presentation of the Public Debt Data to the media, explained that new borrowings and disbursements by multi-lateral and bilateral creditors was significantly responsible for the increase recorded in the country’s debt stock.
According to the Oniha, the new borrowings were raised from diverse sources, primarily through the issuances of the Eurobonds, Sovereign Sukuk and FGN Bonds.
These capital raisings, she said, were utilized to finance projects and support economic recovery.
The DMO DG explained that access to the international market and the impact of Covid-19 pandemic was responsible for the rise in Sovereign debt because “all countries needed to borrow.”
The DMO helmsman disclosed that as at last week, N950 billion has so far been raised from domestic sources for the 2022 borowings.
Data shown by the DMO revealed that Nigeria’s debt increased from 13 per cent in 2014 to 19 per cent in 2019.
She said: Debt is not necessarily a bad thing. It is an accumulation from the budget deficit. The challenge is revenue. If you increase revenue, your debt service will be lower.”
Data from the debt office showed that with the 2021 budget deficit at N6.449.35 trillion, Nigeria borrowed N5.488.80 trillion which is 85 per cent of the deficit. Also, with 2022 budget deficit put at N6.386.07 trillion, Nigeria plans to borrow N5.139.52 trillion, which is about 80.48 per cent of deficit.
Listing some of the causes of borrowing to include, high infrastructure deficit, recession, consecutive budget deficit, and low revenue base, Oniha, noted that to reverse the trend, there is need to shore up Nigeria’s revenue base.
“Nigeria needs to do better in terms of revenue generation,” she stressed.
She told journalists present that to reverse the trend, the Office (DMO) was implementing some initiatives which include: developing debt management tools; spreading maturities; applying a wide range of financial instruments; project tied financing alternatives; and debt repayment spread over overtime.
