Nigeria's total debt stood at 25.7 trillion naira at the end of the first half of the year, jumped by 3.32 trillion naira against the figure at the same period of last year, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Tuesday.
The external component of the debt of Africa's biggest economy stood at 8.32 trillion naira or $27.16 billion at the end of June this year.
The amount borrowed by the government from the domestic market stood at 17.38 trillion naira at the end of the first half of this year.
The government of President Mohammadu Buhari has resorted to huge borrowing from both domestic and external sources to finance its infrastructural development.
The government also said the need its increasing borrowing was to stimulate the economy, boost development and create jobs to its teaming unemployed youth.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at its last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting last month expressed concern over the increased borrowing by the government, saying such could hinder economic growth.
However, the minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed in August debunk claims that Nigeria has over-leveraged on both external and domestic borrowing, saying the country did not have any debt challenge but a challenge with generating sufficient revenue.
“There is a lot of insensitivity around the level of our debt.
“I want to restate that our debt is not too high — what we have is a revenue problem.
“Our debt is still very much within a reasonable fiscal limit.
“In fact, among our comparative countries, we are the least in terms of borrowing,” she had said.
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