The Federal Government spent N1.24 trillion servicing debt in the first quarter of this year, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO) report.
The figures show that between January and March, Nigeria spent N874.13billion servicing domestic debt, and $801.36m (N368.87billion) servicing external debt, bringing the total amount spent on debt serving in the period to N1.24trillion.
In the last quarter of 2022, Nigeria spent N406.77billion on domestic debt servicing obligations and $312.27million (N143.74billion) on external debt servicing, bringing the total to N550.51billion.
From the DMO figures it shows that the federal government’s debt obligations grew by 55.71 percent between the last quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.
The DMO used the CBN exchange rate of $1=N460.3 to convert the external debt servicing components to Naira.
For domestic debt servicing obligations in the first quarter of 2023, the federal government paid N56,466,385,798.05 as interest on Nigeria Treasury Bills (NTBs); N723,957,871,169.59 interest on FGN bonds; N8,167,315,068.49 as rentals on Sukuk; N622,808,510.21 as interest on FGN Savings Bond and N84,915,150,796.00 on Promissory notes.
According to the DMO, “FGN Bonds and NTBs that matured during the quarter were refinanced and the reported figures excluded Sinking Fund Charges of the sum of N180,446,143.00 in respect of (IRO) Treasury Bonds managed by the CBN.
Regarding external obligations: Multilateral bodies were paid $214,459,449.33; Bilateral entities $136,474,716.28 and for Commercial papers, $450,428,973.15.
The Federal Government is projected to spend 82 percent of its revenue on interest payments this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF also stated that external debt, including that of the private sector, is projected to reach $121.6billion, while external reserves are expected to climb to $37.5billion.
The IMF’s projections showed a slight improvement in the percentage of government revenue used for interest payments, with interest payment expected to decline from 96.3 percent in 2022 to 82 percent in 2023.
