- A critical look into the Nigeria’s economic debt crisis emerged on Tuesday at the continuation of the public hearing of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on the implementation of the 2015 budget.
- It was revealed that the domestic debt portfolio of the Federal Government alone stands at N8.396 trillion.
- The Federal Ministry of Finance, which was represented by the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Alhaji Aliyu Yahaya Gusau disclosed this during a two-hour grilling by the legislators.
- The ministry added that while the domestic debt of the Federal Government is N8.396 trillion, the external debts of the whole country is $10,31b, broken into $7.04billion by the Federal Government as at June 30, 2015 and $3.42billion for states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
It added: “External debt as at June 30th 2015 stood at $7.04billion for the federal government and $3.42billion for states and the FCT; bringing it to the total amount of $10.31billion”.
- The ministry added that the global economic growth forecast was projected at 3.3%, precipitated by falling oil price and currency depreciation in major world economies such as balancing in China, Europe and fluctuating stock values in major world markets.
- On the 2015 budget performance, the ministry disclosed that N3.45trillion was budgeted for 2015 out of which capital appropriation was N557billion, adding that of the amount, N194.492billion has been released as at September 15th representing 34.89% of total releases.
