The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday stated Lagos State recorded N1.05trillion domestic debt in the fourth quarter (Q4 2023) to emerge the state with the highest public debt portfolio.

NBS document tagged: “Commodity Price Index and Terms of Trade (Q4 2023), that made this known, added that Lagos was followed by Delta with a debt portfolio of N373.41 billion.

The document said: “Lagos state recorded the highest domestic debt in Q4 2023 with N1.05 trillion, followed by Delta with N373.41 billion.”

According to the report, Jigawa recorded the lowest domestic debt with N42.76 billion, followed by Kebbi with N60.69 billion.

On external debt, NBS noted Lagos has the highest external debt in Q4 2023 with $1.24 billion followed by Kaduna with $587.07 million while Borno recorded the least with $20.49 million, followed by Yobe with $21.49 million.

The data said Nigeria’s public debt stock which includes external and domestic debt stood at N97.34 trillion (US$108.23 billion) in Q4 2023 from N87.91 trillion (US$ 114.35 billion) in Q3 2023, indicating a growth rate of 10.73% on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Total external debt, said the document, stood at N38.22 trillion (US$42.50 billion) in Q4 2023, while total domestic debt was N59.12 trillion (US$65.73 billion).

The bureau revealed that the share of external debt (in naira value) to total public debt was 39.26% in Q4 2023, while the share of domestic debt (in naira value) to total public debt was 60.74%.