ABUJA, July 3 (Reuters) - Nigeria's total public debt rose
to 28.62 trillion naira ($79.5 billion) as of March, up 15% from
a year earlier, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Friday.
Africa's largest economy has been racking up debt to fund
infrastructure projects and boost a sluggish economy now
projected to fall into recession following the impact of an oil
price crash triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Total public debt stood at 24.94 trillion naira in the first
quarter of 2019.
Nigeria had a series of debt issues lined up this year
before the collapse in oil prices, the country's main export,
forcing the government to shelve foreign commercial
borrowing. The government is now tapping domestic markets and
concessionary loans to help fund its 2020 budget deficit which
has been worsened by the lower oil prices that slashed revenues
and weakened the naira currency NGN= .
But debt servicing costs have risen.
The government spent 609.13 billion naira ($1.69 billion) to
service domestic debt in the first quarter of 2020, the DMO said
in a statement.
A director at ratings agency Fitch told Reuters last week
that a sharp rise in Nigeria's sovereign debt and a ballooning
financing gap could trigger a rating downgrade. Nigeria's debt to revenue ratio is set to worsen to 538% by
the end of 2020, from 348% a year earlier, before improving
slightly next year, Fitch said.
($1 = 360.00 naira)