Nigeria’s public debt stock witnessed a significant increase from N87.91 trillion (114.35 billion dollars) in the third quarter of 2023 to N97.34 trillion (108.23 billion dollars) in the fourth quarter of the same year.
This revelation was made by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday, as it released the Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt Report for Q4 2023 in Abuja.
According to the report, Nigeria’s public debt stock, encompassing both external and domestic debt, experienced a quarter-on-quarter growth of 10.73 per cent.
External debt accounted for N38.22 trillion (42.50 billion dollars) in Q4 2023, while domestic debt stood at N59.12 trillion (65.73 billion dollars).
In terms of the debt composition, external debt constituted 39.26 per cent of the total public debt, while domestic debt made up the remaining 60.74 per cent.
Breaking down the figures by state, Lagos State emerged with the highest domestic debt of N1.05 trillion in Q4 2023, followed by Delta with N373.41 billion.
Conversely, Jigawa recorded the lowest domestic debt at N42.76 billion, closely followed by Kebbi at N60.69 billion.
Furthermore, Lagos State also led in external debt, with a total of 1.24 billion dollars, followed by Kaduna State with 587.07 million dollars.
On the other hand, Borno recorded the lowest external debt at 20.49 million dollars, trailed by Yobe with 21.49 million dollars.
