Nigeria’s total debt rose to N12.60 trillion or $65.42 billion as at December 2015, up from N11.2 trillion naira in 2014, an increase of 12.5 per cent according to data released yesterday by the Debt Management Office.
The debt office said on its website that foreign bonds and loans stood at $10.7 billion at the end of December, equivalent to about 16 percent of total debt and up by 9.3 per cent from $9.71 billion at the end of 2014. Total local debt of the federal government at the end of 2015 stood at N8.836 trillion of $44.85 billion with bonds accounting for 65 per cent of the debt. Debt stock from bonds totaled N5.818 trillion while government Treasury Bills debt stock was N2.77 trillion at the end of 2015. Federal government total external debt stood at $7.348 billion accounting for 68.5 per cent of total external debt while the external debt stock of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory stood at $3.369 billion. Lagos state held the largest foreign debt of $1.207 billion accounting for 35.8 per cent and 11.2 per cent of states and total debt respectively. It was followed by Kaduna state which has an external debt stock of $226.368 million. Nigeria is planning to borrow as much as $5 billion to help fund its budget deficit.
 

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