The Federal Government’s gross debt profile is projected to grow by 92.11 per cent from N70.85tn in 2022 to N136.11tn in 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The Washington based lender made this projection in a report titled ‘Nigeria Staff Report for the 2021 Article IV Consultation.” According to the Fund, the gross debt figures of the Federal Government and the public sector include overdrafts from the Central Bank of Nigeria, promissory notes and AMCON debt.
This means debt including Ways and Means have been factored into the total debt profile of the government. The Debt Management Office put Nigeria’s public debt totalled N38tn as of the end September, 2021.
IMF in the latest report said the projections were sourced from Nigerian authorities and its staff estimates and projections. In a table titled, ‘Nigeria: Federal Government Operations, 2017–26,’ the IMF said Federal Government’s debt is expected to grow to N70.85tn in 2022, N83.17tn in 2023, N97.80tn in 2024, N115.38tn in 2025, and N136.11tn in 2026. The IMF said, “Nigeria’s level of public debt increased sharply last year due to the COVID-19 crisis.
– Barring any last-minute change, the Debt Management Office (DMO) will tomorrow auction N150 billion Federal Government bonds to investors. DMO announced this recently in a circular on its website. A bond is a fixed income instrument that represents a loan made by an investor to a borrower — typically corporate or government. According to the circular, the bond issuance will be in two tranches valued at N75 billion each. The first tranche is the 10-year, 12.5 per cent FGN Jan 2026 re-opening bond, while the second is the 20-year, 13 per cent FGN 2042 reopening bond. It said the bonds sell for N1,000 per unit, subject to a minimum subscription of N50,001,000 and in multiples of N1,000 afterwards. The DMO stated that the settlement date of the bond issuance is February 18, 2022. For re-openings of previously issued bonds (where the coupon is already set), the agency specified that successful bidders are required to pay a price corresponding to the yield-to-maturity bid that clears the volume being auctioned, plus any accrued interest on the instrument. It said interest on the bonds would be payable semi-annually while bullet payments would be made on maturity date.
