The Debt Management Office (DMO) has disclosed that the total debt profile of Nigeria presently stands at $64 billion.
This information was disclosed by the Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Abraham Nwankwo, while briefing the Senate Committee on Foreign and Local Debts yesterday, December 14.
Nwankwo however dismissed the fears of some Nigerians that the rising debt profile of the country will affect the economy in a negative way.
He explained that the N1.2tr domestic borrowing and foreign loan of N635.88bn proposed in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for the 2016 fiscal, was also healthy for the nation’s economy.
He informed the committee that 84 percent of the entire debt profile was owed locally, while the remaining 16 percent was foreign loan.
He further clarified that debts owed local contractors were not part of the domestic debts quoted because their details are under the purview of the budget office of the federation, and National Planning, because according to him, they are operational debts.
He added that local contractors debts arose from the activities of agencies, in terms of implementation of capital expenditures.
He said: ”Ordinarily if the implementation of the budget is followed in details, there is no reason why there should be local contractors debt because it is already in the budget.
“Even before the collapse of the oil prices, it has been estimated more than five years ago that Nigeria needed a minimum of $25bn per annum continuously for up to 10 years to enable it to close its infrastructure deficit.
“That has been established by all relevant experts, and institutions. In addition, the collapse of the oil prices by our own estimate shows that public revenue from oil had dropped by about $16bn per annum”. he said.
He assured the senators that the proposed borrowing and exploration of other sources of revenue, would act as a strong base for growth in agriculture, solid minerals, petrochemical and others, while informing them that most of the loans taken by Nigerians are 40 years, but that a good thing was that they were spaced.