The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the Federal Government’s total domestic debt outstanding at end-December 2018 stood at ₦12.443tr, dropping by ₦146.35bn or 1.16%, from ₦12.589tr in 2017, a situation it said was due to the preference for foreign borrowing to finance its fiscal deficit at attractive rates.
According to the 2018 Annual Activity Report, prepared by its Financial Markets Department, the government spent N1.799tr on debt servicing in the period, up by 23.65%, compared to ₦1.455tr at the end of 2017.
The rise in the cost of debt servicing in the period under review “was attributable to the coupon payments of new instruments (such as FGN Sukuk, Green bonds and FGN Savings bonds) that were issued late in 2017.”
A breakdown of the debt stock showed that total FGN Bonds stood at ₦9.134tr, or 73.41%; followed by NTBs or ₦2.735tr or 21.99%; FGN Sukuk, ₦200bn or 1.61%; FGN Special Bonds, ₦200.54bn or 1.61%; FGN Saving Bonds, ₦10.75bn or 0.09%; and FGN Green Bonds, ₦10.69bn or 0.09%. The outstanding Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) Treasury Bonds worth ₦150.99bn accounted for the remaining 1.21%.
Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Notes for the period stood at ₦3.8tr, with an interest rate of 6% issued in December 2014 remained outstanding at end-December 2018, same as in 2017.
The bonds which were taken up solely by the CBN, were issued in a restructuring exercise matures in 2023, the report recalled.