Nigeria’s total debt stock in Thursday rose from N33 trillion to N34tr after lawmakers approves another N1.1tr external loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The House of Representatives approved the external loan of $1.5 billion (about N571.5bn) and €995 million (about N528.4bn) for the federal government while the Senate had approved the request last week.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) had in March 2021 placed Nigeria’s Public debt at N32.915tr as of December 31, 2020. This included the debt stock of the federal and state governments as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to the recommendations made in a report submitted to the House by the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management presented to the House during plenary on Thursday, the loans are to be sourced from the World Bank and Export-Import Bank of Brazil which will be used for various purposes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic effects.
Presenting the report, Ahmed Safana Dayyabu stated that, the loans are to be used in financing priority projects of the federal government.
“The Committee notes that while Nigeria’s Total Public Debt Stock is on the increase, it is still relatively low Vis-a-Vis the country’s GDP and the increased borrowing requirements is needed to sustain the economic recovery,” he added.