According to a report by the Budget Office, the Federal Government's total borrowing from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through Ways and Means Advances reached N20 trillion ($47 billion) as of March 31 2022.
The report, which was released on Saturday, includes the country's spending plans for the years 2023 to 2025 and demonstrates that the CBN debt has not yet been included in the country's total outstanding public debt, which is currently $41.6 trillion.
Nevertheless, the research stated that even with the new debt, Nigeria is still within the government's own self-imposed debt ceiling of 40% of GDP.
According to the budget office, the government intends to securitize its Ways and Means Advances from the CBN and transform "it into a longer tenor amortising facility with a lower interest rate."
According to a presentation on the budget office's website, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed stated that in the first four months to April, government income of N1.63 trillion was less than the 1.94 trillion needed to cover debt-service payments. The report also shows that the country barely earned enough revenues to cover debt service payments in 2021.