In the initial quarter of 2024, the Nigerian government allocated approximately $1.12 billion for foreign debt service payments, as disclosed by data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This figure marks an increase from the preceding year, where debt servicing expenses amounted to $801.36 million during the same period.
Comparing the first quarters of 2023 and 2024 reveals a notable surge of 39.7 percent in debt servicing, with payments climbing to $1.12 billion from $801.36 million. Further scrutiny of the data delineates Nigeria’s debt servicing commitments as $560.52 million, $282.22 million, and $276.17 million for January through March 2024, compared to $112.35 million, $288.54 million, and $400.47 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.
This distribution demonstrates that 70 percent of Nigeria’s dollar disbursements were channeled towards servicing external debts from January to March 2024. CBN statistics indicate that out of the total outflows amounting to $1.61 billion during this period, a significant portion of $1.12 billion was dedicated to external debt servicing.
Nigeria’s external debt escalated to N1438.22 trillion by the conclusion of 2023, up from a total debt stock of N97.34 trillion.
