Nigeria's debt expected to hit 77 trillion Naira ($172 billion) by May, highest in the history

 Nigeria's debt expected to hit 77 trillion Naira($172 billion) by May, highest in the history  Nigeria's total public debt could ri...

 Nigeria's debt expected to hit 77 trillion Naira($172 billion) by May, highest in the history 

Nigeria's total public debt could rise to 77 trillion naira ($172 billion) this year from 44 trillion naira as of last September, after a loan-to-bond swap and new borrowings to fund the 2023 budget, the Debt Management Office chief said.

The Senate last week put off a decision on the president's request to convert $53 billion worth of temporary loans to the government from the central bank into 40-year bonds after some lawmakers questioned the plan.

"If that is approved sometime this year ..., it means you will be seeing that figure included in the public debt," debt management chief Patience Oniha said on Wednesday.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday signed the 2023 budget of 21.83 trillion naira into law and said the country would pay 1.8 trillion naira ($4 billion) in extra interest this year if parliament rejects the loan-to-bond swap request.

Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said total public debt would rise to 35.3% of GDP from 22.97% with the loan conversion.

The conversion and new borrowings would take domestic debt to 70% of total public debt in 2023, from 61.1% currently, Ahmed said.

The Obasanjo government met $28 billion as foreign debt in 1999, it left $2.11 billion in 2007 after successfully securing a write-off by the London and Paris clubs of foreign creditors.

The Yar’adua/Jonathan government added $1.39 billion to what they met, and the Jonathan government incurred additional $3.8 billion, taking the country’s total foreign debt to $7.3 billion when that administration came to an end in 2015.

Nigeria’s external loan reached $28.57 billion by December 2020, meaning an extra $21.27 billion had been accumulated under the Buhari administration — three times the combined amount by past governments since 1999.