Nigeria’s total public debt reached a record high last year, as a weaker naira inflated dollar-denominated borrowings, while overall debt increased due to the government’s need for cash to address the federal budget deficit.
According to BusinessDay, the country’s debt stock soared 48.6 per cent to ₦144.6 trillion as of the end of 2024 compared to ₦97.3 trillion in 2023, data from the Debt Management Office (DMO) released on Friday showed.
In dollar terms, however, Nigeria’s debt shrank, declining by 12.9 per cent to $94.2 billion in 2024 from $108.2 billion in 2023, signalling the impact of the naira devaluation on the debt stock.
The external debt stock increased by 83.89 per cent from ₦38.2 trillion ($42.50 billion) in December 2023 to ₦70.29 trillion ($45.78 billion) in December 2024.
Domestic debt also rose by 25.7 per cent from ₦59.1 trillion at the end of December 2023 to ₦74.38 trillion in December 2024.
The trend indicates that the government relied more on domestic borrowings to finance budget and infrastructural projects as it accounted for 51.4 per cent of total debt profile, with the FGN taking ₦70.4 trillion and state governments accounting for ₦3.9 trillion as their debts.
As of December 2024, external debt made up 48.59 per cent of Nigeria’s total public debt, while domestic debt accounted for 51.41 per cent, indicating a relatively balanced debt structure.
