CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Friday raised an alarm over escalating public debts and advised Federal and state governments to reduce emphasis on debt to gross domestic debt (GDP) ratio which could be a less realistic way of measurement to debt to revenue ratio. Last week, Debt Management Office (DMO) disclosed that Nigeria’s total public debts (including for local, states and federal governments) rose to N25.215 by end September 2019. Reading the communique of the meeting at a press briefing in Abuja, Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele said “MPC however cautioned that public debt was rising faster than both domestic and external revenue, noting the need to tread consciously in interpreting the debt to GDP ratio. Compared with the previous year overall medium term outlook show that the economy is expected to grow by the World Bank; and 2.35% by CBN. CBN projects GDP growth for 2019 at 2.35 percent while IMF and World Bank projected Nigeria’s growth at IMF; 2.1% and 2.5% respectively.

Source: Nigerian Tribune January 25, 2020 05:48 UTC