By Ihechi Enyinnaya
The International Monetary Fund(IMF) has cautioned Nigeria against excessive foreign loans, saying it will weigh down the country.
In a statement on Friday, IMF cautioned Nigeria and other developing economies with large foreign currency borrowings and external financing on the need to prepare for turbulence in financial markets by extending debt maturities as feasible and containing currency mismatches.
According to statistics from the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s Public Debt was N38.005tn by third quarter of 2021.
This was disclosed in a press statement titled ‘DMO publishes total public debt for Q3 2021’ published on the DMO’s website on Tuesday.
It read, “In line with its practice, the Debt Management Office has published Nigeria’s Total Public Debt as at September 30, 2021. The Data which includes the Total External and Domestic Debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria, thirty-six State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory, shows that Nigeria’s Public Debt was N38.005tn or $92.626bn at the end of Q3 2021.
The total debt stock rose by N2.540tn in three months from June 30 to September 30, 2021.
The statement read in part, “The increase of N2.540tn when compared to the corresponding figure of N35.465 trillion at the end of Q2 2021 was largely accounted for by the $4bn Eurobonds issued by the Government in September 2021.”