Nigeria to raise N1.64trn in foreign, domestic market

Nigeria will raise as much as N1.64 trillion (nearly $5 billion) from the domestic and external debt markets this year, the country’s Debt Management Office said Tuesday from Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The West African nation will raise a total of N850 billion ($2.34 billion) from external debt market, and will raise an additional N793 billion from the domestic market, Director General of the debt management agency, Patience Oniha said during a press briefing for the release of public debt data as at June 30, 2018.

Figures released shows that Nigeria’s public debt profile, which comprises of the federal and 36 state government as much as FCT stood at N22.39 trillion ($78.21 billion) as at June 2018, a 3.01% marginal increase over the December 2017’s N21.67 trillion ($70.84 billion).

The increase in the public debt stock of the six months period was due largely to the $2.5 billion issued in February 2018, data shows.

When compared to debt data for March 2018, the public debt stock decreased by 1.44% from N22.70 trillion in March to N22.38 trillion in June this year. The decrease was due to a 3.38% decline in the federal government’s domestic stock between months under review. There were however marginal increases of 0.07% in the external debt sock and 2.75% in the domestic debt of states, figures show.

The oil dependent economy’s domestic debt declined by 0.09% in this year, from N12.58 trillion in December 2017 to N12.57 trillion in March 2018. It further declined 3.8% in June, from N12.57 trillion in March 2018 to N12.151 trillion in June of the same year, as the DMO redeemed more treasury bills than it issued.

A total of N198 billion Nigerian treasury bills were redeemed in December 2017, and another N639 billion was redeemed in June 2018, the DMO said.