Top 10 Nigerian states with highest external debts to China, others in 2023, Lagos leads

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Lagos State recorded the highest external debt of $1.2 billion as of June 30, 2023.

The NBS data was extracted from the Debt Management Office (DMO) and tracked by Legit.ng, revealing that Lagos's debt is mostly via bonds rather than bilateral.
Kaduna follows Lagos state closely at $569.4 million in total external debt.

Unlike Lagos, Kaduna State's debts are primarily bilateral from India and China Exim Bank, among others.

The state does not have any debts in Eurobonds or diaspora bonds.

Other states include:

Edo: $258.4m 4

Bauchi: $170.4m 5

Cross river: $153.2m 6

Enugu: $120.7m 7

Ogun: $111.6m 8

Anambra: $105.6m 9

Ekiti: $103.5m 10

Kano: $101.3m

Nigeria's total public debt hits N87.33 trillion

The NBS data puts Nigeria's total public debt stock at N87.33 trillion or $113.42 billion as of the second quarter of 2023 from N49.85 trillion or $108.30 billion in the first quarter of 2023, showing a growth rate of 75.27% quarterly.

The country's external debt stood at N33.25 trillion or $43.16 billion in Q2 of 2023, while domestic debt stood at N54.13 trillion in the same period.

External debt to total public was put at 38.05% in the second quarter of 2023, while domestic debt to total public debt was 61.95%.

States with the highest external debts

Lagos state still leads the pack with the highest domestic debt at N996.44 billion, followed by Delta State with N465.40 billion.

Others are Jigawa state with N43.13 billion domestically, followed by Kebbi with N60.94 billion.

States with the least external debt

Borno state had the least external debt, with US$18.75 million, followed by Taraba with US$21.92 million.

CBN's Ways and Means interest payment gulps crude oil earnings

A recent report from the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF) said the Nigerian government's interest payment on Central Bank of Nigeria's Ways and Means Advances in the first half of this year exceeded the country's crude oil earnings.

The report titled 'Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper,' released on Thursday, October 19, 2023, showed that the apex bank's Ways and Payment of N1.68 trillion surpassed the government's oil earnings of N813.58 billion, revealing an excess of 107% over oil revenue.

CBN's Ways and Means is responsible for FG's bloated debt servicing

It was reported that the BOF said that the federal government's debt service situation worsened due to the surge in Ways and Means payments, which increased by N966 billion from the first half of the year's budgeted amount of N700 billion to N1.68 trillion, an amount that also exceeded the 2023 budgeted amount of N1.2 trillion by over N400 billion.

The report said that the government's debt service account was responsible for driving the country's total debt service for the period by N109 billion, to hit N3.94 trillion in the process. The development exceeded the 2023 debt service budgeted amount of N3.8 trillion.

An economist and financial analyst, Jonathan Okei, told Legit.ng that the only thing weighing Nigeria down is its debt burden despite the talks about debt-to-GDP ratio.

He revealed that Nigeria uses 95% of its revenue on debt servicing.

"Imagine the figure you quoted to me now. Imagine your debt servicing gulping more than your crude oil earnings. How is the country going to survive? Nobody or a country survives when you borrow more than you earn. It's just common sense."

Nigeria successfully repays China, India, and Germany $1.81bn, services CBN loans with N912bn

It was reported that new Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has shown that the Nigerian Government has allocated a significant $1.81 billion to service foreign debts during the first seven months of 2023.

An analysis of the amount shows that in January 2023, the Nigerian Government set aside $112.35 million to service foreign debt.

February saw a higher debt servicing of $288.5 million, while March witnessed a substantial expense of $400.5 million.