CBN: FG spends $2.2b on debt servicing in five months

The latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed that the federal government spent about $2.2 billion on debt servicing in the first five months of this year.

A breakdown of the report, ‘International Payments Data,’ revealed that FG spent the most on debt financing in May, at $854.36 million, which is also the highest paid in a single month in the past year.

This figure is about 297 percent higher than it spent on debt servicing in April and 286.49 percent higher than the $221.05 million the country spent in May 2023.

In April, debt servicing gulped $215.20 million, $276.16 million in March, $283.22 million in February and $560.52 million in January.

The entire amount is about 96.32 percent higher than what FG spent on debt servicing within the same period in 2023, which stood at $1.12 billion.

According to FBNQuest Research, Nigeria’s external debt service payments increased by $1.1bn to $3.5bn in 2023, comprising $1.9bn and $1.6bn in market and non-market debt payments, respectively.