Nigeria spent N2.34 trillion on debt service during the first six months of the year, according to a new report by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
This figure reflects a notable slowdown in Nigeria’s debt servicing spending during the second quarter of 2023, amounting to N849.58 billion.
This marks a substantial 43.04% decline from the N1.49 trillion expended on debt servicing in the first quarter of the same year.
Data from the DMO further reveals that in the first quarter of 2023, Nigeria allocated N874.13 billion for servicing its domestic debt and $801.36 million (equivalent to N617.35 billion) for external debt servicing, summing up to N1.24 trillion.
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Servicing expenses amounted to N565.88 billion, while external debt servicing costs reached $368.26 million (N283.7 billion), resulting in a combined total of N1.24 trillion, according to data obtained from the DMO.
The exchange rate of the DMO, which was $1 to N770.38, was used for external debt servicing.
Incontrast to the previous quarter, during which Nigeria allocated around $131.13 million for servicing Exim Bank of China loans, no funds were dedicated to Chinese loan servicing in the first quarter of 2023, as reported by DMO.