The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Nigeria’s foreign debt stood at $11.41 billion (₦3.49tn) while the domestic debts was ₦14.02 trillion in 2016.
The NBS stated in “Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt – 2016” data posted on its website on Wednesday in Abuja, that the sum reflected states’ and federal debt stock.
The report showed that $7.99 billion of the debt was multilateral debt while $198.25 million was bilateral (AFD) with $3.22 billion from the Exim Bank of China credited to the Federal Government.
“Federal Government debt accounted for 68.72 per cent of Nigeria’s total foreign debt while all states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for the remaining 31.28 per cent.
“Similarly, total Federal Government debt accounted for 78.89 per cent of Nigeria’s total domestic debt while all states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for the 21.11 per cent balance.’’
The report further gave a breakdown of the Federal Government domestic debt stock by instruments reflected that ₦7.56 trillion or 68.41 per cent of the debt were in Federal Government Bonds, with about “₦3.28 trillion or 29.64 per cent in treasury bills and ₦215.99 million or 1.95 per cent in treasury bonds.
“Lagos State has the highest foreign debt profile among the 36 states and the FCT accounting for 38.70 per cent. Other debtor states include Kaduna (6.25 per cent), Edo (5.15 per cent), Cross River (3.22 per cent and Ogun (2.90 per cent) followed closely.”
Similarly, the report stated that Lagos State had the highest domestic debt profile among the 36 states and the FCT accounting for 10.54 per cent.
“Delta (8.15 per cent), Akwa Ibom (5.25 per cent), FCT (5.16 per cent) and Osun (4.97 per cent) followed in that order,” the report stated.