The Debt Management Office (DMO) said Nigeria’s total public debt stock, which was N41.60 trillion (100.07 billion dollars) in March rose to N42.84 trillion (103.31 billion dollars) by June.
According to a statement obtained from DMO’s website o Tuesday, the total debt represents the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Also read: DMO reviews issuance bond calendar, announces N720bn borrowing plan
It, however, said that while the foreign component of the debt remained at the same level of N16.61 trillion (39.96 billion dollars), the local component increased to N26.23 trillion (63.24 billion dollars).
The newsmen report that the local component of the country’s borrowings was N24,98 trillion (60.1billion dollars) as at March 30.
The DMO said that a larger percentage of the external debts were concessional and semi-concessional loans.
“Over 58 per cent of the external debt stock are concessional and semi-concessional loans.
“They were obtained from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Afrexim and African Development Bank, and bilateral lenders including Germany, China, Japan, India and France.
“The total domestic debt stock increased from N24,98 trillion (60.1billion dollars) in March to N26.23 trillion (63.24 billion dollars) in June.
“This is due to new borrowings by the FGN to part-finance the deficit in the 2022 Appropriation (Repeal and Enactment) Act, as well as new borrowings by state governments and the FCT,” the DMO said.
It said that the total public Debt-to-GDP ratio remained within limits, at 23.06 per cent, while Debt-Service-to-Revenue was still high.
It added that the federal government was committed to increasing revenue so as to reduce the amount that went into debt servicing.
“The Debt-to-GDP as at June 30, was 23.06 per cent compared to the ratio of 23.27 as at March 30.
It remains within Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40 per cent.
“While the Federal Government continues to implement revenue-generating initiatives in the non-oil sector and block leakages in the oil sector, Debt Service-to-Revenue ratio remains high,” it said.
Meanwhile, the DMO is set to take its FGN Securities Awareness Programme to Yola on Wednesday and Umuahia on Sept. 29.
According to Patience Oniha, DMO’s Director-General, the programme is designed to sensitise Nigerians on the huge investment benefits in FGN securities, thereby boosting financial inclusion.
In the meantime, the average price of 5kg of cooking gas increased from N4,397.68 in July to N4,456.56 in August.
The assertion was made by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Cooking Gas Price Watch issued on Tuesday in Abuja.
It noted that the price in August indicated a 1.34 per cent increase on a month-on-month basis from what was obtained in July.
“On a year-on-year basis, the August 2022 price was a 101.17 per cent increase over the price of N2,215.33 paid for the same volume of gas in August 2021,’’ it stated.
The report added that Taraba recorded the highest average price of N4,925.44, for 5kg cooking gas, followed by Adamawa where it cost N4,920 and Lagos State where it sold for N4,782.50.
It stated also that Katsina State recorded the lowest price of N4,020 in August, followed by Ogun and Yobe at N4,057.14 and N4,078.46, respectively.
Analysis by geo-political zones showed that the North-Central recorded the highest average retail price of N4,615.95 for 5kg cooking gas, followed by the North-East at N4,548.03.
The North-West recorded the lowest retail price at N4,285.51.
The NBS reported also that the average retail price of 12.5kg cooking gas increased to 9,899.34 in August 2022 from N9,824.07 in July, representing a 0.77 per cent month-on-month increase.
“On a year-on-year basis, the price rose by 119.26 per cent from N4,514.82 in August 2021,’’ it stated.
The report added that the highest retail price was recorded in Ebonyi at N11,225 for 12.5kg, followed by Cross River at N10,982.14 and Delta at N10,965.42.
The lowest average price was recorded in Katsina State at N8,150, followed by Yobe and Taraba at N8,212.63 and N8,886.30, respectively.
Similarly, kerosene price rose to N809.52 per litre in August, showing a 2.5 per cent increase over the N789.75 for which it was sold in July.
The report noted that on a year-on-year basis, the average retail price per litre of kerosene rose by 102.38 per cent from N400.01 recorded in August 2021
Further analysis showed that the highest average price per litre of kerosene in August 2022 was recorded in Imo at N1083.33, followed by Ekiti at N1,026.92 and Enugu State at N1,017.74.
The report showed that the lowest price was recorded in Nasarawa State at N625, followed by Rivers at N627.45 and Adamawa at N633.33.
Analysis by geo-political zones showed that the Southeast recorded the highest average retail price per litre at N953.88, followed by the Southwest with N910.85.
“The South-South recorded the lowest average price at N749.51,’’ it stated.
It added that the average retail price per gallon of kerosene in August was N2,947.65, showing an increase of 2.12 per cent from N2,886.41 in July 2022.
According to the report, the August 2022 price was a 122.4 per cent increase over the price of N1,325.39 paid in August 2021.
Analysis by states showed that Abuja paid the highest price of N4,050 per gallon of kerosene in August, followed by Abia where it sold at N3,825 and Enugu State at N3,574.52.
Zamfara recorded the lowest price at N2,280 for a gallon of kerosene followed by Lagos State and Benue where it sold at N2,526.32 and N2,566.67, respectively.
The NBS stated that analysis by geopolitical zones showed that the Southeast recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of kerosene at N3,276.78, followed by the Southwest at N3,073.27.
It added that the Northeast recorded the lowest average retail price at N2,687.63 per gallon.
