Nigeria successfully repays Chinese, World Bank loans as debt servicing jumps by 277.64 per cent

Nigeria spent about 277.64% on external debt servicing in Q3 of 2023, data from the Debt Management Office (DMO) shows.

An analysis of the data indicates that external debt servicing stood at $368.26 million in the second quarter of 2023.

Top three external debt service expenditure

The figure increased to $1.39 billion, showing a 277.64% rise in the three months under review.

The DMO used N768.93 per dollar as the exchange rate in calculating the naira value for external debt servicing.

According to DMO data, the top three external debt service expenditure items for the third quarter of 2023 include Eurobonds at $943.661 million, the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) at $212.038 million, and the Exim Bank of China at $137.191 million.

The debt office said in a statement on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, that external debt declined due to the redemption of a $500 million Eurobond and payment of $413.859 million as the primary repayment and the amount of $3.4 billion loan obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during COVID-19 in 2020.

The DMO data did not show any debt service to the IMF.

Nigeria increases debt servicing

Reports say there has been a significant increase of 237.06% in total debt servicing, including external and domestic debt.

Nigeria spent about N2.86 trillion on debt servicing in Q3 of 2023, higher than the N849.05 billion spent in the second quarter of this year.

Domestic debt rises in 2023

The country spent about N5.20 trillion on debt servicing in the first nine months of 2023, including N3.23 trillion in domestic debt and $2.56 billion in external debt servicing.

Domestic debt servicing increased by 216.76% per a quarterly analysis from N565.88 billion in the second quarter of 2023 to N1,79 trillion the following quarter.

Nigeria’s domestic debt stock rose by N1.80 trillion to N50.196 trillion as external debt stock dropped by $1.57 billion in Q3 of 2023 from $43.16 billion to $41.59 billion as of September 30, 2023.