Index to Nigerian Newspapers

Nigeria's total public debt may hit N118.37tn in the next three years, findings by The PUNCH have shown. The figure was based on analysing Nigeria's current debt profile and the debt projections in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper 2024-2026. According to the new MTEF/FSP, the Federal Government plans to take N26.42tn loans between 2024 and 2026. The fiscal policy also indicates that debt servicing will gulp N29.92tn in three years. The PUNCH also found that the country had borrowed about N5.05tn between January and June from its N9.62tn borrowing plan for 2023, which means that the Federal Government will likely still borrow at least N4.57tn more this year. Despite the rising debt, the Federal Government has insisted that it will stick to its borrowing plan. However, President Bola Tinubu recently expressed his administration's commitment to breaking the cycle of overreliance on borrowing for public spending and the resultant burden of debt servicing it placed on the management of limited government revenues.