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FG services debts with N136bn in three months

By on August 18, 2013

The Federal Government spent N136.77bn on servicing its domestic and external debts in the first three months of this year.

The amount is contained in the Budget Monitoring and Evaluation report prepared by the Budget Office of the Federation for the Federal Ministry of Finance.

A copy of the report, jointly signed by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Director- General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Bright Okogu, was obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday.

It presents information on the implementation of the 2013 budget in the first quarter and the government’s performance within the same period.

According to the report, the International Finance Institutions received $94.23m (N15.08bn) from the Federal Government while their domestic counterparts were paid N121.69bn as debt service obligations within the first three months of this year.

A breakdown of the $94.23m (N15.08bn) external debt service figure indicates that $47.86m (N7.66bn), representing 50.79 per cent was paid to multilateral creditors; $19.48m (N2.79bn) or 20.67 per cent was paid to non-Paris bilateral creditors; while $26.9m (N4.30bn), representing 29 per cent, was used to service the debt of non-Paris commercial creditors.

The report put the country’s external debt stock as at March 31, 2013 at $6.67bn (N1.07tn).

This, it added, indicates an increase of $143.65m (N22.98bn) or 2.2 per cent over the $6.63bn (N1.045tn) recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The $6.67bn (N1.07tn) figure is also $677.18m (N108.35bn) or 11.3 per cent more than the $5.99bn (N959bn) recorded in the first quarter of 2012.

A breakdown of the external debt stock in the first quarter of 2013 showed the multilateral debts amounted to $5.349bn (N856bn), representing 80.19 per cent; Non-Paris Club bilateral and commercial debts totalled $821.35m (N131.42bn) or 12.31 per cent while Euro-bond accounted for the balance of $500m (N80bn)or 7.5 per cent.

It said, “Nigeria’s external debt stock (mostly low interest funds from multilateral financial institutions) as at 31st March, 2013, stood at $6.67bn, indicating an increase of $143.65m (or 2.2 per cent) and $677.18m (or 11.3 per cent) over the $6.527bn and $5.993bn recorded in the fourth quarter and first quarter of 2012, respectively.

“The increase was due mainly to the increases in multilateral and bilateral debt drawdown. A breakdown of the external debt stock in the first quarter of 2013 showed that multilateral debts amounted to $5.349bn (80.19 per cent), Non-Paris Club bilateral and commercial debts amounted to $821.35m (or 12.31 per cent) while ICM (Euro-Bond) accounted for the balance of $500m (or 7.5 per cent).

“The actual external debt service payment in the first quarter of the year amounted to $94.23m.

“A breakdown of the payments indicated that $47.86m (or 50.79 per cent) was to multilateral creditors, $19.48m (or 20.67 per cent) was to Non-Paris bilateral creditors and $26.9m (or 28.55 per cent) was to Non-Paris commercial creditors.”

For domestic debt, the report said the data from the DMO indicated that as of March 31, 2013, the Federal Government’s domestic debt stock stood at N6. 493bn.

This, it stated, represented a drop of N44.22bn (or 0.68 per cent) below the N6.537bn recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012.

“The 2013 first quarter debt figure was also N526.55bn (or 8.82 per cent) above the N5.966bn reported in the same period of 2012,” it added.

A breakdown of the domestic debt stock as of March 31 also showed that N3.820bn (or 58.84 per cent) was for FGN Bonds; N2.338bn (or 36.01 per cent) was for Nigeria Treasury Bills; and N334.56bn (or 5.15 per cent) for Treasury Bonds.

It said, “The sum of N121.69bn was released for domestic debt servicing in the first quarter 2013, while the actual domestic debt payment was N191.25bn.

“The sum of N55.41bn (or 40.79 per cent) difference between the quarterly budgeted estimate of N135.84bn for domestic debt services and the actual domestic debt services was mainly due to additional issues of FGN Bonds above the amount projected to be issued as a result of changes in the issuance calendar and the rising cost of rolling over NTBs.”

The report indicated the total public debt stock at the end of the first quarter was $48.36bn (or N7.53tn), which was made up of $6.67bn (N1.04tn) or 13.79 per cent for external debt and $41.69bn (N6.49tn) or 86.21 per cent domestic debt stock.

 

 

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