•As foreign trade in LC Payments reaches $160m
By Elizabeth Adegbesan
Nigeria spent $817.4m, approximately N1.26 trillion, to service its debt in the first two months of 2025. This represents a 3.12 percent decline when compared to $843.73 million spent in the corresponding period of 2024.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, International Payments Report shows that in January 2025, the government spent $540.7 million and in February 2025 it spent $276.7 million on debt servicing.
Further breakdown shows that the country had spent $3.81 billion (about N5.9 trillion) for debt service/Payments in 2024.
Recall that the Federal Government unveiled its largest national budget in 65 years, with a record-breaking N54.99 trillion proposed spending, representing a 56.89 percent increase from the N35.05 trillion budgeted in 2024 (including a supplementary N6.2 trillion).
President Bola Tinubu described it as the “Budget of Restoration,” aimed at stabilising the economy and driving growth.
In the budget debt servicing is allocated N16.3 trillion, a 95 percent increase from N8.25 trillion budgeted in 2024.
Meanwhile, data showed that Nigeria’s foreign trade in Letters of Credit, LC, payments fell by 0.55 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) to $160 million in the first two months of this year from $160.9 million in the corresponding period of last year.
LC payments is one of the critical measure of a country’s credit worthiness but a decline or increase could also reflect developments in volume of import trades.
LC payments for 2024 stood at $801.06 million, representing a 39 percent YoY decline from $1.32billion in 2023.
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