The incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu may start on a shaky note as the outgoing government had left a whopping N46.25 trillion debt burden .
In the eight years of the Buhari administration, Nigeria’s debt profile had grown from N12.6 trillion in 2015 to over N46 trillion in 2023.
According to the Debt Management Office, DMO, Nigeria’s total debt stock has hit 46 trillion.
It was learnt that despite the dust already caused by the heavy existing debt burden, the government said it had received approval from the World Bank on another N369 billion loan ahead of the fuel subsidy removal in June 2023.
The situation has continued to raise fiscal worries, especially as the International Monetary Fund, IMF, said Nigeria almost emptied its treasury on debt servicing in 2022.
The Federal Inland Revenue said it collected N10 trillion in revenue in 2022, with a 2023 budget expenditure of N21.83 trillion pegged on deficits of N11.34 trillion.
The issue of debt sustainability and economic instability currently chokes Nigeria without hope.
On this ground, the onerous task of surmounting the country’s economic challenges would be shouldered by Tinubu after his swearing-in on May 29, 2023.
However, economic experts said fixing Nigeria’s debt-burdened economy would be a hard nut to crack.