By Ngozi Onyeakusi—Debt Management Office (DMO) has disclosed that Nigeria spent N2.49tn on debt servicing payments in the first nine months of 2021.

DMO detailed that between January and March 2021, Nigeria spent N612.71bn on domestic debt servicing, while it spent $1bn (N410.83bn) on external debt servicing, giving a total of N1.02tn. From April to June 2021, the country spent N322.7bn on domestic debt servicing and $299m (N122.83bn) on external debt servicing, showing a total of N445.53bn. From July to September 2021, Nigeria spent N808.49bn on domestic debt servicing and $520.78m (N213.95bn) on external debt servicing, giving a total of N1.02tn. The official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which showed $1 =N410.83 as of December 15, was used for the external debt servicing. For domestic debt, the government spent N219.29bn in January, N125.09bn in February, N270.33bn in March, N258bn in April, N42.4bn in May, N22.3bn in June, N354.07bn in July, N100.66bn in August, and N353.75bn in September. In Q1 and Q3, the government focused on principal repayments, while in Q2, the government focused on interest payments. Throughout, the Federal Government bonds had the largest chunk of debt servicing payments.