Checkout Magazine learned during the weekend that Nigeria’s debts rose by about N4 trillion in the past five months to take the portfolio to N45.25 trillion.
An official data reviewed by correspondents yesterday indicated that the government raised about N3.34 trillion through its regular issuance of domestic debt instruments between April and August.
The depreciation of the naira also impacted the external debt stocks.
The monthly issuance reports by the Debt Management Office (DMO), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and two leading investment and finance firms that deal in government debt issues- Arthur Steven Asset Management and Vetiva Capital Management Limited, revealed this information.
Earlier in the month, the DMO had reaffirmed that the national debt stocks had risen to N41.6 trillion by the end of the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.
The reports indicated that the government raised N1.116 trillion through bond issuance within five months. It also raised N1.999 trillion through the Nigerian Treasury Bills (NTBs) and mopped up N220.01 billion through the Open Market Operation (OMO).
The DMO indicated that it used the CBN’s official exchange rate of N415.75 per dollar as of March 31, 2022, as the conversion rate for the country’s external debts for the first quarter. The lead bank’s official rate stood at N423.48 per dollar as of August 31, 2022.
