Nigeria’s total foreign debt as at March, this year stood at $40 billion, increasing from $38.4 billion last December; domestic debt also rose from N23.7 trillion to N25 trillion within the same period.
Such levels of debt, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) said, had become unsustainable.
NACCIMA National President Ide John C. Udeagbala, made this known at the Association’s Third Quarter Press Briefing in Lagos.
The briefing focused on socio-economic issues of interest to the private sector. It also reviewed the state of the economy and NACCIMA’s contributions on key issues and policies for an inclusive growth.
Udeagbala said Nigeria’s unsustainable debt profile was worrisome, especially against the backdrop of projection by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that by 2026, all of Nigeria’s revenue would go to servicing debt.
Udeagbala, therefore, counselled all levels of government to consider other sources of funding, such as leveraging Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) for tax credits spread over time.
“This is so as we consider that the national budget is heavily skewed towards recurrent expenditure that is largely unmet by the estimated government revenue,” he said.
