Nigeria’s debt rose by $6.73bn in 10 months – Report

The Nigeria’s debt profile between November 2017 and August 2018 rose by $6.73 billion, Blueprint has gathered.

Also, the country’s total debt stock as at August 2018 currently stands at $22.083 billion.

These details were obtained from the website of the Debt Management Office.

Only recently at the G-20 meeting held in Argentina, IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, warned that rising debt levels by emerging markets, posed a downside risk to growth.

However, Blueprint checks revealed that Nigeria’s debt levels rose steadily by about $1 billion from $8.821 billion in November 2013 to $9.711 billion in 2014, before hitting $10.718 billion in 2015.

However, it was noticed that between 2016 and 2017, debt levels rose from $11.261 billion to $15.352 billion.

The debt, according to our findings, is made up of facilities from multilateral, bilateral and commercial sources.

From multilateral sources alone, notably the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, Nigeria secured $10.883 billion, with $2.399 billion also secured from bilateral sources.

Under the World Bank, Nigeria got a loan of $8.348 billion from the International Development Association (IDA) and $124.1 million portfolio from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).

 Also, under the AfDB Group, Nigeria obtained a $1.319 billion portfolio from the ADB, $843.47 million from the Asian Development Fund, $5.88 million from BADEA, and $84.96 million from Energy Development Fund in France, $16.92 million and $159.44 million from IFAD respectively.

And from bilateral sources, $1.913 billion was obtained from China Exim Bank, $274.98 million from Japan’s JICA, another $74.69 million was also gotten from JICA, while $4.76 million and $132.24 million was obtained from India’s Exim Bank and Germany’s KFW respectively.

Under the commercial debts, Eurobonds stood at $8.500 million while Diaspora bonds accounted for $300 million amounting to $8.800 billion.

Experts comment

Meanwhile, experts have expressed worry at the nation’s rising debt profile,

Commenting on the development, Head, Banking and Finance Department at the Nasarawa State University, Professor Uche Uwaleke, told Blueprintthat Nigeria should focus on external borrowings that are concessional.

He explained that the country’s economic managers should make do with concessional loans that are “tied to self-liquidating projects in critical sectors of the economy.”

In a similar reaction,  the Co-convener of Take Back Nigeria, Jaye Gaskia, told our correspondent that  the nation’s  “burgeoning debt is due to the inability of Nigeria’s economic managers to understand the integrated nature of the different sectors of the economy.

According to him, the debt management style of government showed the country’s policies as not well-knitted

“If you have an overarching economic development planning, you will also know that you can get part of the resources domestically,” he posited.

Amaechi speaks

But, in what appears a defence of the debt profile, Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, at a recent event in Abuja, posited that the borrowing was for a good cause, maintaining that the federal government would continue to borrow to fund critical infrastructure, including the nation’s rail transport system.

Amaechi, who spoke during a recent appearance before the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, said the eastern corridor rail line was accommodated in the 2016/2018 external borrowing (rolling) plan.

He said: “The coastal rail line already has its route alignment passing through Aba in Abia state and Onitsha in Anambra state, both of which are in the South-east geopolitical zone.

These projects for which the approval of the National Assembly of $5,214,914,368.33 co-financed by China Exim bank, were neither conceived nor approved by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, rather, this administration pursued the projects vigorously in view of their importance to the development of the socio-economic lives of the citizenry.

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