Tag: Nigeria’s Debt

Fitch Ratings rule out debt restructuring for Nigeria

Aminu Imam

Following the downgrade of the country’s ratings to ‘B-’ from ‘B’ last weekend, international rating agency, Fitch Ratings has said although it considered a further negative rating for Nigeria, it does not expect that the country will restructure its debt in the medium to near term. This was stated by the Fitch Director, Sovereign Ratings, Jermaine Leonard yesterday, in Lagos. According to him, the rating agency is not concerned that there will be a debt restructuring announcement over the next six months or even next year. Investors had become jittery…

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“Nigeria’s foreign debt unsustainable” – Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, finally admits

Aminu Imam

After a long period of insisting that Nigeria had no debt problem, but only revenue short-fall, the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, has finally admitted to the contrary, saying that the nation’s debt stock is no longer sustainable. Recall that the Minister had argued stridently in the past three years that Nigeria’s debt-GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was within a safe threshold, which became the administration’s mantra for contracting more frivolous loans for consumption. However, she recently made a U-turn, as she was quoted to have stated that Nigeria was considering re-ordering…

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Mounting Debt: ‘More taxation the only way to reduce Nigeria’s debt burden’ – Zainab Ahmed

Aminu Imam

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, says more tax collection and blockage of revenue leakages were the only realistic ways of reducing the country’s mounting debt burden. Ahmed stated this at a workshop on tax expenditure, organised by the ECOWAS Commission under the Context of the Implementation of the Support Programme for Tax Transition in West Africa (PATF) in Abuja, on Tuesday. The Minister, who was represented by the Director, Technical Services in the Ministry, Fatima Hayatu, said the issue of tax expenditure was a great…

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Nigeria’s public debt rises to N42.84 trillion – DMO

Aminu Imam

Nigeria’s total public debt rose by 2.98 percent in the second quarter of this year to N42.84 trillion ($103.31 billion), new data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO) has shown. The total public debt stock represents the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the 36 State governments and the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT). According to the DMO, the debt stock rose by N3.28 trillion in the first half of this year, from N39.56 trillion at the end of last year. It further said the…

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Nigeria’s Rising Debt: “Nigeria dressed in borrowed robes”, says Atiku

Aminu Imam

The Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku, has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government has dressed Nigeria in borrowed robes. Atiku, who stated this during his speech at a meeting between the private sector and presidential candidates, said: “This action calls into question the government’s ability to manage its rising debt profile without jeopardising macroeconomic stability”.  He further said: “Indeed, we are concerned that this action is already exposing Nigeria to financial instability as we move from a medium risk of debt distress to a high risk of…

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National Debt: “FG can keep borrowing till eternity” – APC Chair, Adamu

Aminu Imam

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, has justified the perennial borrowings of the Federal Government despite warnings from experts and financial organisations on the danger such portends for the country’s economy and debt profile. Adamu, who hinged his justification on the fact that developed countries in Europe and North America also borrow for one reason or the other,  stated this when he featured on a television programme on Monday. According to him, the Federal Government “can borrow from here to eternity”, adding that countries like…

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Nigeria ranks 4th on IDA debtors’ list with $13bn debt

Aminu Imam

Nigeria has moved one spot up in the latest top 10 International Development Association (IDA) borrowers’ list, with $13 billion debt. The IDA, which is a part of the World Bank, helps the world’s poorest countries. Other countries in the top five positions are India in the first position, Bangladesh in the second position, Pakistan in the third position, and Vietnam in the fifth position. Whereas the other top 5 countries reduced their debts between 2021 and 2022, Nigeria increased its debt by 11.11% after accumulating an additional $1.3bn to…

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Debt servicing surpasses revenue as FG releases Q1 data

Aminu Imam

…N1.94 tr spent between January-April The cost of servicing debt surpassed the federal government’s retained revenue by N310 billion in the first four months of 2022. This is contained in the 2023 – 2025 Medium-Term Fiscal Framework/ Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTFF/FSP) report, presented by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Zainab Ahmed. According to the report, as of April 2022, a sum of N1.63 trillion was earned as the federal government retained revenue, accounting for 49% of the prorated target of N3.32 trillion. This is significantly lower than the projected revenue…

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Nigeria spends 96% of its revenue on debt servicing in 2021, worst on record – Report

Aminu Imam

The Federal Government incurred a sum of N4.22 trillion on debt servicing in 2021, increasing by 29.3% compared to N3.27 trillion spent in the previous year. On the other hand, revenue for the period only increased marginally by 9.3%, to N4.39 trillion. This is according to a research analysis carried out on data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN). This means that Nigeria spent about 96% of its revenue on servicing debt obligations in the year under review. Compared to the previous year, Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio increased from…

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Nigeria, others face high risk of debt distress – IMF cautions

Aminu Imam

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), has warned that Nigeria and 71 other countries are at high risk of debt distress or already in debt distress. The Bretton Woods institution, which disclosed this in a report titled: “Restructuring debt of poorer nations requires more efficient coordination”, said that low-income countries face fewer debt challenges today than they did 25 years ago. This, it attributed to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, which slashed unmanageable debt burdens across sub-Saharan Africa and other regions. According to the report, although debt ratios were…

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