The Debt Management Office (DMO) has said it is concerned about the Federal Government’s debt service-to-revenue ratio, IgbereTV reports
The federal government’s projected deficit for the 2023 budget stands at N11.30 trillion, 54 percent higher than the previous budget’s estimated deficit.
Patience Oniha, director general of DMO, adduced the reasons for the high debt profile when she appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance for interaction on Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) 2023-2025 on Thursday.
Oniha disclosed that Nigeria’s indebtedness reached N41.6 trillion as at March this year, saying the country has been running on budget deficit for many years which affected its revenue profile.
She said unless the issues of personnel, overhead and capital expenditure were properly addressed in the budget, borrowing would continue.
She said: “As you know, we publish the debt numbers quarterly, which is why there are a lot of discussions around it. But let me just give some numbers. As at December 2020, the debt stock of Nigeria and that includes the federal, state governments and the federal capital territory was N32.92 trillion.
“By December 2021, it was N39.556 trillion. As at March of this year, it was N41.6 trillion. On the average, (federal government) it is about 85 percent of the total. Technically, the bulk of it is the federal government
