According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), the outstanding public debt declined by 5.65 percent from $84 billion to $79.3 billion between December 2019 and March 20201. The reduction was driven by a 9 percent decline in domestic debt from $56.4 billion to $51.6 billion during the same period2. Meanwhile, the change to external debt was minimal as it tapered around $27.6 billion in both periods. While the decline in domestic debt is as a result of the redemption of Nigeria Treasury Bills (NTBs), the stagnation of external debt stems from the government’s need to limit its exposure to exchange rate volatility. However, the $3.4 billion in emergency support received from the IMF in April as well as the reliance on domestic debt to mitigate the impact of the pandemic will increase public debt in the near term. In this context, effective debt management is important not only with regards to the terms of borrowing but also in debt use and transparency.
July 20, 2020
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 27)
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 34)
Recent NBS data shows a significant decline in
power generated in 2016Q2. Precisely, power generated declined by 31 percent
(quarter on quarter) from a total quarterly average of 92,352 MWH in 2016Q1 to
63,692.39 MWH in 2016Q2. Remarkably, the reoccurrences of pipeline
vandalism in 2016Q2 prompted the shortage of gas for power generation. Thus,
there were about eight recorded system collapses in the quarter which led to
several days of power outages. However, subsequent quarterly declines in power
generation could be averted if efforts to repair vandalized pipelines and adopt
hydro sources are intensified.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 14)
Recently released report by the National Bureau of Statistics indicates decline in output and contribution to GDP in the Nigeria aviation sub-sector. In real terms, output in the sub-sector decreased annually by 4.9 percent between 2015 and 2016; and declined by 13.3 percent (Year-on-Year) in 2016Q4 the largest quarterly decline in 2016. The sectoral fall in output was supply-side driven: increased cost of operations prompted cut-back on services provided by the sector as well as termination of some aviation operations. Going forward, recent improvement in forex supply in the interbank and BDC channel would enhance forex access to airline operators and facilitate smooth running of the airline industry.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 19)
A recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS) indicates that Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) at the subnational
level decreased slightly between 2014 and 2015. Specifically, the report shows
that on the average, the IGR of all 36 states declined by 3.6 per cent from
N707.9 billion in 2014 to N683.6 billion in 20157. A further
disaggregation reveals that while IGR in 11 states improved in 2015 compared to
2014, IGR in 24 states were below their 2014 levels. As expected, Lagos state
generated the most IGR during the period. Given that domestic resource mobilization
is the most viable alternative to complement the shortfalls (driven by lower
oil prices) in budgetary allocations to states from the federal government,
state governments need to do more to improve the effectiveness and efficiency
of revenue collection.