C’River foreign debt surges 45.8%, domestic debt drops 36.3% in 3 yrs, DMO
Cross River’s foreign debt has risen by 45.8 per cent in three years, from $153.2 million in June 2023 to $223.4 million as at June 30, 2026, despite a 36.3 per cent reduction in its domestic debt over the same period.
Data obtained from the Debt Management Office (DMO) show that the state’s domestic debt declined from N204.1 billion in June 2023 to N130.01 billion in June 2026.
The figures indicate a contrasting movement in the state’s debt portfolio, with domestic obligations falling by N74.04 billion, while foreign debt increased by $70.2 million.
The latest figures represent a further reduction in domestic debt from N147.3 billion in June 2025 to N130.01 billion in June 2026, a decline of 11.7 per cent.
However, foreign debt increased from $201.5 million to $223.4 million within the same 12-month period, representing a rise of 10.9 per cent.
The DMO’s June 2026 external debt report places Cross River among the most indebted states in terms of foreign debt, behind Lagos, Kaduna, Edo and Ogun.
Cross River’s external debt of $223.4 million was marginally below Ogun’s $225.12 million, while Lagos had $1.27 billion, Kaduna $735.6 million and Edo $350.41 million.
The state’s foreign debt portfolio comprises multilateral and bilateral obligations, including loans associated with China Exim Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), India, Germany’s KfW, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
The June 2025 DMO report showed that Cross River owed $168.3 million in multilateral debt and $33.2 million in bilateral debt, bringing its total external obligations to $201.5 million.
By June 2026, its multilateral debt had risen to $197.5 million, while bilateral debt stood at $25.9 million, bringing the total to $223.4 million.
The figures show that multilateral debt increased by about 17.3 per cent between June 2025 and June 2026, while bilateral debt declined by approximately 21.9 per cent.
The increase in total foreign debt, despite the decline in bilateral obligations, points to a growing concentration of the state’s external debt in multilateral lending.
On the other hand, the state’s domestic debt position also changed over the period.
The state’s domestic debt fell by 27.8 per cent between June 2023 and June 2025, from N204.1 billion to N147.3 billion, before declining by a further 11.7 per cent to N130.01 billion in June 2026.
Overall, the reduction of N74.04 billion between June 2023 and June 2026 represents a 36.3 per cent decline.
However, the latest DMO figures show that Cross River remained among the states with relatively high domestic debt stocks, although it ranked eighth among the 36 states when the June 2026 figures are arranged in descending order, excluding the FCT.
Lagos had the highest domestic debt at N1.2 trillion, followed by Delta with N369.3 billion, Rivers with N354.6 billion, Edo with N214.9 billion, Ogun with N189 billion, Bauchi with N157.4 billion and Niger with N140 billion.
Cross River’s N130 billion placed it ahead of Benue, which had N112.3 billion and several other states.