By Francis Ogwo
Nigeria’s external recorded an increase by $162 million in two days from $34,017,914,833 recorded in August 31 to $34,180,156,102 on September 2, 2021.
According to the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, this figure was after it rose by $500 million in one week to the highest point in more than two months,.
The reserves, which have been wobbling in recent weeks, jumped from $33.43 billion on August 23 to $33.93 billion on Monday, and $34.7 billion at the close of the week, the highest since June 11.
The CBN data showed that the reserves fell to a record low of $33.09 billion on July 12 from $34 billion on June 10.
Similarly, the Nigerian senate last week announced its plans to cut down on the federal government (FG) planned borrowing.
As of March 31, the country’s debt stocks stood at N33 trillion, amounting to public debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 21.13 per cent.
The concern for many analysts is how the loans would be deployed and repaid. If the budget implementation report released earlier in the week is a signal to work with, analysts believe that much of it would be utilized for debt service – a vicious cycle.
The report shows that, as of H1 2021, debt service to revenue stood at 91 per cent while debt servicing accounted for 35 per cent of government spending.
