President
Goodluck Jonathan has come under fire over Nigeria’s rising debt
profile, with the House of Representatives asking him to submit a
proposal to peg the debt limit within 60 days.
Jonathan has faced severe criticism over
the nation’s rising debts. According to the Debt Management Office, the
total external debt stock stood at $5,666,579,900 as at December 31,
2011.
Of the amount, the Federal Government
owes $3,501,232,617.91 while the external debt owed by the 36 states and
the Federal Capital Territory is put at $2,165,347,282.09.
Also, DMO states that the domestic debt,
comprising Federal Government bonds, Nigerian treasury bills and
treasury bonds is N5,622,843,712,000. The N4.68tn 2012 budget envisages a
N1.05tn deficit and N794bn domestic borrowing while domestic debts
stand at 16.1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.
From the foregoing, Nigeria’s total debt
stock is standing at N6.5tn, an increase of 24.37 per cent from the
December 31, 2010 figure of N5.235tn.
But, government appears not to be
deterred as President Jonathan informed the National Assembly recently
of his intention to engage in “external pipeline borrowing in the amount
of $7.9bn a year being cumulative facilities offered by the World Bank,
Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Exim Bank of China and
Indian Lines of Credit.”
If the Federal Government borrows
$7.9bn, its total external debt will rise to $11.4bn. Already, the
Federal Government will spend N560bn on debt servicing in 2012.
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