IMF, China-Exim top debt servicing list in Q1, says DMO

The International Monetary Fund, China-Exim Bank and the International Development Association have emerged as the top recipients of debt servicing paid by the current administration in nine months, Saturday PUNCH reports.

The country paid the IMF a total of $811.1m, $513.05m to the International Development Association and $317.75m to the China-Exim Bank, according to an analysis of data on actual external debt service payments from the Debt Management Office.

This was as the nation paid a total sum of N989.24bn and $1.12bn to service domestic and external debts owed to various multilateral and bilateral lenders between July 2023 and March 2024.

A further breakdown showed that the government paid a total of $436.75m between July and September 2023, increasing further to $579.2m by the end of December 2024 and $831.73m.

Other international lenders including the African Development Bank received $95.93m, International Bank got $12.19m while loans repaid on infrastructural projects like the National Public Security $36.39m, Abuja light rail $47.5m, Zungeru hydro projects got a refund of $61.29m.

The Debt Management Office in its recent Public debt report announced that the nation’s total public debt has increased significantly to N121.67tn in March raising concerns about the country’s fiscal and public debt sustainability.

It said the new figure pushing debt-to-GDP ratio to a 25-year high, is driven majorly by naira depreciation, as the total debt was reduced in dollar terms by $16.77bn or 18.34 per cent.

The office added that the rise is also attributed to a new borrowing undertaken to partly finance the 2024 budget deficit and the securitisation of a portion of the N7.3tn Ways and Means advances at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

It further clarified that Nigeria’s fresh borrowing was N7.71tn in the first quarter of 2024.

The fresh borrowing includes N2.81tn as part of the new domestic borrowing of N6.06 trillion provided in the 2024 Appropriation Act and N4.90 trillion as part of the securitisation of the N7.3 trillion Ways and Means Advances approved by the National Assembly.

Over the years, past administrations had relied on loans to fund critical infrastructure projects for the benefit of its citizens.

Experts have also opined that long years of infrastructure decay and rising unemployment have intensified feelings of bitterness towards the government’s repeated external borrowings, which they deem unjustifiable.

Two weeks ago, The PUNCH reported that the government has borrowed a total of $4.95bn in loans from the World Bank in the past 12 months and still expects fresh loan approval worth $4.4bn from the international lender and the Africa Development Bank over the next year.

Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).