C'River Foreign Debt Increases By 32% in 2 yrs, DMO

The foreign debt portfolio of the government of Cross River has increased by 31.5 percent from $153.2m to $201.5m mbetween June 30, 2023, and June 30, 2025.

According to data obtained from the Debt Management Office (DMO), the state also saw a reduction in its domestic debt by 27.8 percent within the same period under review.

According to the data, Cross River reduced its domestic debt from N204 billion to N147 billion between June 2023 and June 2025.

The data from the DMO placed Cross River as the 5th most indebted sub-regional government in terms of foreign debt accumulation after Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna, and Edo states.

Similarly, the state remained the 6th most indebted state in the area of domestic debt after Lagos, Ogun, Delta, Rivers, and Enugu states.

According to the DMO, the total foreign indebtedness of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT as at June 30 2025, was $4.8 billion.

On the other hand, the domestic debt of the 36 sub-regional governments and the FCT within the same period was N3.96 trillion.

The Cross River foreign debt is comprised of multilateral and bilateral organisations.

According to the DMO, the state is indebted to organisations such as China Exim Bank, JICA, INDIA, KFW, IsDB, and AFD.

According to the data obtained from the DMO, while Cross River owed a total of $168 million as multilateral debt as at June 30, 2025, its is also owed a bilateral debt of $33.2m in the same period under review

NAN