President Muhammadu Buhari has announced that national debt rose from N39.6tn in December 2021 to N42.8tn in June 2022.
He made this known on Friday while presenting the 2023 appropriation bill to a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja.
The Nigerian leader said that the rising deficit was due to high debt servicing resulting from rising interest rates.
President Buhari said 2022 budget saw a deficit of N4.6tn, 63 per cent of the estimated deficit for the 2022 fiscal year.
He revealed that the Federal Government disbursed N1.48tn for recurrent expenditures for all its Ministries, Department and Agencies in the past year.
Buhari argued that reducing government spending will be socially destabilising, stressing that his administration is focused on increasing economic activity and by extension, revenue.
