The Federal Government’s domestic debt outstanding rose by ₦1.26tn to ₦13.41tn as of June 2019, over the figure for the corresponding period of 2018.
This was disclosed in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s half-year report on Federal Government’s domestic debt.
Part of the report read, “The total domestic debt outstanding at the end of June 2019 stood at ₦13.41tn, representing an increase of ₦1.26tn or 10.38 percent, over ₦12.15tn in the corresponding period of 2018.”
It explained that the debt stock during the review period comprised the Federal Government of Nigeria’s bonds worth ₦9.69tn or 72.26 percent, Nigerian Treasury Bills worth ₦2.65tn or 19.77 percent and FRN Treasury Bonds of ₦125.99bn or 0.94 percent.
Others included FGN promissory notes of ₦707.76bn or 5.28 percent, FGN Sukuk worth ₦200bn or 1.49 percent, FGN green bonds worth ₦25.69bn or 0.19 percent and FGN savings bonds of ₦10.43bn or 0.08 percent.
In spite of higher debt stock, the cost of debt servicing declined by 15.00 percent to ₦800.73bn at end-June 2019, compared to ₦941.99bn in the corresponding period of 2018.
This was due to declining yields in the fixed income market during the review period according to the report.
The CBN stated that the FGN domestic debt service was ₦800.73bn at the end of June 2019, representing a decrease of 15.00 percent when compared to ₦941.99bn at end-June 2018.
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The decrease was attributed to the fall in yields on the securities issued in the markets.
A breakdown of the cost showed that interest expense on NTBs stood at ₦166.63bn or 20.81 percent, coupon payments on FGN bonds, FGN savings bonds and FGN green bonds accounted for ₦609.84bn or 76.16 percent, N0.66bn or 0.08 percent and ₦0.72bn or 0.09 percent respectively.
A rental payment on FGN Sukuk was ₦16.02bn or 2.00 percent, while interest paid on FRN treasury bonds was ₦6.87bn or 0.86 percent.
