N22trn ‘Ways and Means’ loans responsible for rise in domestic debt – DMO

The Debt Management Office, DMO, has said there was a sharp rise in Nigeria’s total domestic debt stock between December 2022 and June 2023.

The DMO, in a statement clarifying the country’s domestic debt stock onThursday, said the inclusion of N22.719 trillion securitized Ways and Means advances is responsible for the increase.

According to DMO, the total domestic debt of N55.93 trillion it earlier published was the figure for September 30 and not for December 30.

“The attention of the DMO has been drawn to some comments in the media on Nigeria’s debt stock figures as of Sept. 30.

“The increase in the total domestic debt stock between June 30 and Sept. 30 was 3.3 per cent.

“The total domestic debt grew sharply between December 2022 and June due to the inclusion of the securitized Ways and means advances which was added to the debt stock in June,” it said.

The total country’s public debt stock hit N87.91 trillion ($114.35 billion) as of September 30.

The amount represents the domestic and external debts of the Federal Government, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The N87.91 trillion debt stock represents a marginal increase of 0.61 per cent when compared to the June figure of N87.38 trillion.