The Federal Government has made tremendous progress in its fiscal management, according to Minister of Finance Wale Edun, with a sharp decrease in debt service and an increase in non-oil revenue.
During an evaluation of the economy’s first-half performance on Thursday in Abuja, Edun disclosed this. According to the minister, the debt service ratio fell from an astounding 97% in June 2023 to a more tolerable 68% in 2024.
In addition to improving the government’s standing with investors and foreign financial institutions, he claims that the large decrease in debt servicing costs frees up substantial resources for vital industries like infrastructure, healthcare, education, and social services.
According to Edun, Nigeria’s total debt—which consists of both international and local debt—has dropped.
He emphasized that the country’s dollar debt has also dropped, from $181 million to $98 million. He credited the government’s withdrawal from the Ways and Means funding plan as well as the contractors’ timely payments for their accomplishment.
Non-oil income has grown at an unprecedented rate in terms of revenue, outpacing the previous year’s performance by an astounding 30%. This is a substantial amount more than what was planned for the first half of 2024.
The minister underlined the government’s commitment to tax reforms while stressing the significance of diversifying revenue streams away from oil. The goal is to raise government revenue as a share of GDP from roughly 14–15% to roughly 25%, or nearly double that amount.
The government has put strong measures in place to improve revenue collection in order to attain these advantages, including the use of technology and the simplification of internal procedures at revenue-generating organizations.
Even though it still makes up a sizable portion of gross sales, oil revenue has decreased to 30% from 11% during the same period previous year. The minister highlighted the government’s data-driven strategy for guiding the economy in the correct direction while expressing pleasure with the progress done thus far.
