The Nigerian federal government spent $1.17 billion in the first half of 2023 servicing foreign debt, with June seeing the highest spending at $543 million, and $951.99 million in direct remittances.
The Central Bank of Nigeria reported that Nigeria spent $951.99 million in direct remittances in the first half of 2023, with over 85% of its revenue servicing debt.
Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, has pledged to reduce the country’s excessive reliance on borrowing for public spending and eliminate the debt servicing burden on the government’s limited revenues.
For six months, the government spends on debt.
According to CBN data, the federal government paid $112.35 million in January 2023 to repay its foreign loans.
In February, the government spent $288.5 million, followed by $400.5 million in March. In April, a huge $92.8 million expense was incurred.
In addition, as of May, $221 million had been spent on meeting these obligations. The most remarkable aspect of this data was the month of June, which had an unusually high maintenance cost of $543 million, the most in 13 months.
According to data from the Debt Management Office, China, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, Japan, France, and others are among Nigeria’s biggest lenders.
Payment for the period
According to the figures, $951.99 million in direct remittances were made in total during the first half of 2023.
According to the figures, the total for January was $79.2 million, while the total for February was $83.76 million. A considerable sum of $138.6 million was tallied in March, followed by a transfer of $159.04 million in April.
May witnessed a $202 million influx, with June seeing a significant increase of $297.4 million in direct remittances.
The federal administration proclaimed on Monday, August 29, 2023, that it had no intention of borrowing money from any domestic or international organizations after abolishing the gasoline subsidy and harmonising currency rates.
Chief Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, made this statement at the conclusion of the first Federal Executive Council meeting on Monday in Abuja.
According to Edun, thanks to the extra money from subsidy reduction, a number of palliatives have been made available to decrease the impact in the short, medium, and long term.
He emphasized President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s desire to rescue the economy from the quagmire it has become over time.
Nigeria’s debt stock has reached N82 trillion due to the devaluation of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria
Nigeria’s public debt has increased to N82 trillion from N77 trillion before the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced exchange rate unification on June 14, 2023.
The CBN has announced that all exchange rate windows have been merged into the Importers and Exporters (I&E) window, as per a press release.
Nigeria’s debt stock was valued at N448 billion by the Debt Management Office (DMO) before the naira was introduced.
Source: Legit.ng