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The Debt Management Office (DMO) has released Nigeria’s public debt data for the first quarter of 2019. The data shows Nigeria’s public debt stood at N24.947 trillion ($81.274 billion) at the end of March 2019, representing an increase of 2.3 per cent from N24.387 trillion ($79.437 billion) reported on 31st December, 2018.

The ratio of domestic to external debt was 68.49 per cent and 31.51 per cent as of 31st March, 2019. The DMO said it aims to achieve a ratio of 60 per cent (domestic debt) to 40 per cent (external debt).

According to the report, the N458.363 billion increase in domestic debt was the major contributor to the increase in the public debt stock in Q1 2019. Compared with the N16.553 trillion reported in 2018, the domestic debt increased to N17.011 trillion. Increases were recorded in the domestic debt of the Federal Government, the 36 states and the federal capital territory.

Nigeria’s external debt also increased by N101.646 billion during the period under review to N7.860 trillion.

The ratio of public debt to gross domestic product (GDP), according to the DMO, was 19.03 per cent. The ratio remains within the 25 per cent debt limit set by the Federal Government.