Recent Data released by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics reveals an increase in total public debt stock between 2015 and 2016. Foreign and domestic debt stock stood at $11.4 billion and N14.0 trillion respectively as at December 2016, from $10.7 billion and N10.5 trillionrecorded as at December 2015. Disaggregated data shows that foreign debt sources comprised Multilateral ($8.0 billion), Bilateral ($0.2 billion) and Exim bank of China ($3.2 billion); domestic sources included government bonds, treasury bills and bonds. The federal government and states accounted for 68.7% and 31.3% respectively of foreign debt stock; 78.9% and 21.1% respectively of domestic debt stock. This maybe particularly at the backdrop of government borrowings in 2016 to finance its expenditure (mostly recurrent).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) slightly revised upward growth projections for SubSaharan Africa by 0.1 percentage point in 2017 but retained growth estimates for 2018.1 Precisely, growth estimate in the region was increased from 2.6 percent in April 2017 forecast to 2.7 percent in July 2017 forecast, while it was retained at 3.5 percent for 2018. The slight upward revision in 2017 is attributable to an upgrade in South Africas growth prospect from 0.8 percent in April 2017 to 1.0 percent in July 2017. Despite the upward 2017 revision, 2018 forecast for South Africa was revised down from 1.6 percent in April 2017 to 1.2 percent in July 2017. Growth forecast for Nigeria remained unchanged at 0.8 percent and 1.9 percent for 2017 and 2018 respectively.