An analysis of data released by the Debt Management Office, reviewed by SaharaReporters, reveals that President Bola Tinubu’s administration spent N3.5 trillion on debt servicing between July and September 2024.
The data also indicates that $1.338 billion was allocated to external debt servicing during the same period.
The government, in the DMO data announcing the country’s total public debt, noted that the exchange rate as of September 2024 stood at ₦1601 per dollar. This implies that a total of ₦2.1 trillion ($1.338 billion multiplied by ₦1601) was spent on external debt servicing between July and September.
The country took loans externally from sources such as African Development Bank, Africa Growing Together Fund, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Islamic Development Fund among others.
The $1.338 billion spent on external debt servicing between July and September, is more than the $1.120 billion spent between April and June 2024. It is also more than the $1.120 billion spent between January and March 2024, on external debt servicing.
Domestically, the country recorded N1.4 trillion for debt servicing. The money was broken down into N276.3 billion in July, N457.7 billion in August and N699.2 billion in September.
Between January and June, the government spent N2.8 trillion on servicing debts domestically.
The sum of N252.8 billion was spent in January 2024, N168.6 billion was spent in February, N567.8 billion was spent in March, N482.4 billion was spent in April, N1.085 trillion in May and N295.5 billion in June.
With the government spending N3.5 trillion on debt servicing between July and September, it would mean that what was spent is more than the N2.2 trillion revenue retained by the federal government between July and September, according to details published by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
