Nigeria’s Debt Management Office has revealed that the Federal Government’s debt has risen by $18.40 billion (N3 trillion) in the last four years due to excessive borrowing from external(IMF) and domestic sources and payment of interest on securitized domestic debts. It further revealed that debts incurred were used to pay salaries and other recurrent expenditures even when the economy is not in recession. Many financial experts are blaming the current situation on the Ministry of Finance’s poor planning and management.

The current debt profile is $7.29 billion higher than it was 10 years ago (2004) before Nigeria secured debt relief from the Paris Club. The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has however said that she met a total debt stock of US$47.9 billion in 2011 in her second coming as finance minister after she left it at just US$17.3 billion in 2006 when she left office. The country’s total debt now stands at $53.49 billion.



PS: This article is a summarized version of the original news

Source: http://thesummary.com.ng/index.php/national-news/item/787-nigeria-s-debt-rises-by-18bn-in-4-years