The Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) said the nation’s total debt profile now stands at N24.947 trillion or $ 81.274 billion as at March 31, 2019, following a 2.3% increase.

CEOAfrica learnt that the DMO released the figure in the morning of Wednesday, July 10, and stated that “The total public debt grew marginally by 2.30% when compared to the figure of N24.387 trillion (US$ 79.437 billion) as at December 31, 2018.”

The DMO noted that an increase of N560.009 billion in the total public debt in the first quarter of 2019, was accounted for largely by domestic debt which grew by N458.363 billion.

The office added that increases were recorded in the domestic debt stock of the federal government of Nigeria, states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

It said the external debt also increased by N101.646 billion during the same period. It stressed further that “In relation to the debt management strategy, the ratio of domestic to external debt stood at 68.49% to 31.51% at the end of March 2019.”

DMO explained that the total public debt to GDP ratio stood at 19.03% is within the 25% debt limit imposed by the government.