Nigeria to spend 123% of revenue on debt servicing in 2023 – W’Bank

DEBT servicing will gulp 123.4 per cent of the Federal Government’s revenue in 2023.

   World Bank Lead Economist for Nigeria, Alex Sienaert, made the projection in a presentation he delivered in a forum on latest update on Africa’s finance outlook to round off 2022.

   Speaking while presenting the paper with the title’ “Nigeria Public Finance Review – Fiscal Adjustment for Better and Sustainable Development Results”, Sienaert projected that debt servicing would gulp 100.2 per cent of Federal Government revenue by the end of 2022.

  According to him, this was a decline from the earlier projection in its October report on Africa.

  “Borrowing more is not the solution: debt costs are rising rapidly, squeezing non-interest spending. Debt servicing has surged over the past decade and is expected to continue increasing over the medium-term, crowding out productive spending,” he said.

  It will be recalled that Nigeria’s public debt recently rose to N44.06trillion in the third quarter of 2022.

   According to a press statement published on the website of Debt Management Office, while total public debt stock rose from N42.84trillion recorded in the second quarter to N44.06trillion in the third quarter of 2022, this showed 2.85 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter with Nigeria acquiring N1.22trillion debt within three months.