The Debt Management Office has stated that remedies are needed to handle poor revenues and the country’s escalating amount of new borrowings.
The call was made by the Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha at the interactive session on the 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure/Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) held by the National Assembly’s House Committee on Finance in Abuja.
In her presentation, Oniha stated that successive low revenues in the Budget, which is further compounded by less than 100% realization, have reflected in high levels of borrowing in the recent years. Expectedly, these borrowings have resulted in a high growth rate in the Debt Stock as well as Debt Service. She added that the trend is the same in the draft 2022-2024 MTEF.”
What this means
Nigeria’s borrowings have resulted in a high growth rate in the Debt Stock as well as Debt Service, which are cause for concern, hence, the urgent need for innovative solutions to reduce debt and increase revenue.
However, Nigerians are asking for more to be done to migrate the growing debt as the current state of the economy makes the country vulnerable to an external stock, especially concerning oil.