This follows a report from the Debt Management Office , which revealed that the country’s external debt stock increased by $780 million in the second quarter of 2024, growing from $42.12 billion in March to $42.9 billion by June 2024. Last Thursday, the Federal Executive Council approved a $2.2 billion external borrowing plan as part of the Federal Government’s 2024 Appropriation Act financing programme.

With the additional borrowing plan of $2.2 billion, the country’s external debt is projected to reach $45.1 billion by the end of 2024. However, the borrowing plans come at a time when Nigeria spent $3.58 billion servicing its foreign debt in the first nine months of 2024, a 39.77 percent increase from the $2.56 billion spent during the same period in 2023, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria.