Anambra, least indebted in Nigeria – NBS

ANAMBRA State has the least foreign and domestic debt profile among the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, despite the country’s foreign and domestic debts standing at $22.08 billion and N15.63 trillion respectively at the end of the second quarter of this year.
This is contained in recent release by National Bureau Statistics (NBS) indicating that Lagos State had the largest share of the foreign and local debts.
According to the NBS, Nigerian states and federal debt stock data as of 30th of June, 2018 showed that the country’s foreign and domestic debts stood at $22.08bn and N15.63 trillion respectively.
A further breakdown of the Nigeria’s foreign debt showed that $10.88 billion out of the figure was multilateral while $274.98 million was bilateral (AFD) with another tranche of $2.12 billion and $8.80 billion bilateral loan from Exim Bank of China, India and KFW being commercial.
“Lagos State has the highest foreign debt profile among the 36 states and the FCT, accounting for 34.17 per cent, while Edo (6.57 per cent), Kaduna (5.48 per cent), Cross River (4.56 per cent) and Bauchi (3.18 per cent) followed closely. Similarly, the total domestic debt was N3.48 trillion, with Lagos State accounting for 14.88 per cent of the total domestic debt stock, while Anambra State has the least debt in this category with a contribution of 0.08 per cent to the total domestic debt stock,” the release shows.
On the domestic debt stock of the states and the FCT, the NBS revealed that Lagos owed N517.367 billion, Delta in N222.680 billion, Akwa Ibom in N179.714 billion while Kaduna had N75.606 billion, adding that Abia owed N57.467 billion, Adamawa N67.460 billion, Anambra N2.612 billion, Bauchi N78.076 billion and Bayelsa N123.031 billion.
According to NBS, Federal Government’s domestic debt stock totalled N12.151 trillion during the period under review, with a further breakdown of the figure showing that Federal Government Bonds amounted to N8.927 trillion or 73.47 per cent.
It equally disclosed that Nigerian Treasury Bills totalled N2.953 trillion or 24.31 per cent with Nigerian Treasury Bonds standing at N150.988 billion or 1.24 per cent; while the Federal Government Savings Bond was N8.521 billion or 0.07 per cent. Others are Federal Government Sukuk (Islamic bonds) of N100 billion or 0.82 per cent and FGN Green Bond of N10.690 billion or 0.09 per cent.