President Bola Tinubu has formally approached the National Assembly, requesting authorization for a new external borrowing plan of N1.767 trillion. The funds are intended to help address the N9.7 trillion budget deficit in Nigeria’s 2024 fiscal plan.
Concerns over Nigeria’s increasing foreign debt burden have been growing, worsened by the liberalized exchange rate system, which has driven up the cost of loan repayments.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shows that the Federal Government spent $3.58 billion on foreign debt servicing between January and September 2024. This marks a 39.77% surge compared to the $2.56 billion spent during the same period in 2023. The highest monthly debt servicing payment this year occurred in May, totaling $854.37 million.
A breakdown of Nigeria’s debt servicing payments is as follows:
•January 2024: $560.52 million (a sharp rise of 398.89% from January 2023)
•February 2024: $283.22 million (a slight 1.84% decline from February 2023)
•March 2024: $276.17 million (a 31.04% decrease from March 2023)
•April 2024: $215.20 million (an increase of 131.77% compared to April 2023)
•May 2024: $854.37 million (a rise of 286.52% from May 2023)
•June 2024: $50.82 million (a drop of 6.51% compared to June 2023)
•July 2024: $542.50 million (a 15.48% decline from July 2023)
•August 2024: $279.95 million (a reduction of 9.69% from August 2023)
•September 2024: $515.81 million (a 17.49% increase compared to September 2023).
