The Director General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha, has again pushed for policies and actions that will galvanise revenue generation and generally stimulate economic growth.

She noted that while Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio, at below 25 per cent, was among the lowest globally, debt service to revenue ratio in 2022 reached 100 per cent. This, she said, remains very high and shrinks the fiscal space available to the government to invest in economic infrastructure.

Oniha stated these at a technical round-table on economic blueprint for President Tinubu’s administration organised by Actionaid Nigeria.

According to her, the removal of fuel subsidy and tweaking of monetary policies were valid but uncomfortable steps needed to dismantle the roadblocks to unlocking more funds for the economy to insulate it from crashing.

She said: “As many of you are aware, the debt stock has grown but it is important to understand the reasons behind this growth. Subsidies are an expenditure item in the budget, thus invariably, they contribute to the budget deficits.

“On the other hand, the Naira exchange rates used for the budgets are the official rates, which we all know are much lower than the open market rates, the effect of which is lower revenue.”