Nigeria’s public debt surged to N134.3 trillion ($91.3 billion) by the end of Q2 2024, a 10.35% rise from N121.7 trillion in Q1.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) attributed the increase primarily to the devaluation of the naira, which impacted the debt’s value in local currency while the dollar amount remained largely unchanged.
The document read: “In Q2 2024, the debt stock grew in naira terms to N134.3 trillion ($91.3 billion) from N121.7 trillion ($91.5 billion) in Q1 2024, driven mainly by exchange rate devaluation. The dollar amount of debt was roughly the same.”
This underscores the challenges of exchange rate volatility affecting Nigeria’s debt valuation.
This is coming at a time when Nigeria’s 2024 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to be $199.7 billion, marking the lowest figure in 19 years, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s October World Economic Outlook (WEO) report.
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that the country’s external reserves reached $40.2 billion, reflecting significant growth from the previous year’s $34 billion.
In a similar development, the IMF has forecasted a decline in Nigeria’s debt burden.
