DMO: States’ Total Domestic Debt Stock Stood at N2.95tn in Dec

Lagos, Delta, A’Ibom top list

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The total domestic debt stock of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as at December 31, 2016, stood at N2.958 trillion, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has said.

A breakdown of the indebtedness shows that Lagos, Delta and Akwa Ibom States topped the list with a domestic debt stock of N311.7 billion, N241.3 billion and N155.4 billion respectively.

Lagos, which remains the commercial nerve centre of the country, DMO said in a document posted on its website, emerged the state with the highest local debt stock in the country during the period.

Lagos, Delta and Akwa Ibom States were followed by the FCT with N152.8 billion debt stock, Osun with N147 billion, Rivers N142.4 billion and Bayelsa N140.1 billion.

Anambra emerged the state with the least debt ( N3.9 billion), followed by Yobe with N13.5 billion and Jigawa with N19 billion. Anambra State had also in 2015 recorded the least debt of N3.5 billion.

Domestic debt is the amount of money raised by the any sub-national government denominated in local currency and from its own residents.

It consists of two components – bank and non-bank borrowing, and are issued through government debt instruments such as Nigerian Treasury Bills, Nigerian Treasury Certificates, Federal Government Development Stocks, Treasury Bonds, Ways and Means Advances.