The domestic debt of Nigeria has hit N571 billion, the finance and coordinating minister for the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has disclosed.
Okonjo-Iweala disclosed this in Abuja today while fielding questions from journalists after the presentation of the reports on the 15-year strategic partnership on debt management between the United Kingdom and Nigeria.
She slammed critics that they lacked knowledge of public finance that was why they were accusing president Jonathan of piling up debt.
She claimed that from 2011 to 2014, the government had reduced domestic borrowing from N852 billion to N571 billion.
“There is a lack of information on the part of the critics. We want to say that the information about our debt is one of the most transparently available. The DMO has a website that has all the information. Contrary to the idea that we’re piling up debt, this administration, with the strong support of Mr President, has embarked on a policy of trying to reduce the borrowing, particularly the domestic borrowing. You know the major part of our debt is domestic. External debt is only 2 percent of what we owe and 98 percent domestic debt. We want to reduce that so that the private sector can have chance to borrow so that interest rate can come down.
“From 2011 till now, we’ve gone from about N852 billion in borrowing down to N571 billion. It’s a very big reduction. So, I beg to differ from those who say we’re piling. We actually have very good strategy. In addition, for the first time ever, we actually retired N75billion in bond last year, filled it up completely. We established a thinking fund in which we’re putting N25 billion each year so that we’ll be able to pay off from time to time. I think this is a very clear case of this administration taking conscious steps to be a responsible debt manager, she said.
