Nigeria’s total debt soar to $64.38billion

The Debt Management Office (DMO) reported on Tuesday that Nigeria’s foreign debt has soared by 40% to $9.38billion from $6.7billion since March 2013. The recent announcement by the DMO also put the current local debt figure at $55billion (N8.9trillion) which represents a 37.1% from N6.49trillion increase since March 2013 bringing the country’s total debt to $64.38billion.

Although the debt has increased, the report released by management office also demonstrated an increase in Gross domestic product (GDP). The DMO clarified that the debt to GDP ratio 12.51% of it’s rebased GDP, down from 21% at March 2013.


The unprecedented rise of Nigeria’s economy in 2014 now see’s the country’s GDP at $500billion to emerge at Africa’s topmost economy. When asked about Nigeria’s new economy, the DMO director general- Abraham Nwankwo- said, “This is not an indication that Nigeria can borrow without caution … because our tax GDP ratio is very low (6%),” Nigeria is growing as an investment destination as economic growth remains high and its currency stabilises.

However, investors are concerned about the tendencies of mismanagement of oil revenues, which depict an epidemic problem of massive corruption particularly as national elections comes next year. Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered Bank said, “In more upbeat circumstances – higher oil prices, investors would focus on the benign public debt ratios. With oil below $100 per barrel, the focus is more likely to shift to the rapid build-up in debt,”

Culled from www.today.ng