The Senate has approved the Federal Government’s request for a $6.1 billion (N2.343 trillion) loan request. As of December 2020, the most recent official data available, Nigeria's public debt was N32. 9 trillion, or $86.3 billion. This is according to the country's debt management office. The question is, when and how will Nigeria ever repay her huge debts?
The Senate gave the approval for another loan on Wednesday after it considered a report from its Committee on Local and Foreign Debt.
Presenting the report on the floor during plenary, the Chairman of the committee, Senator Clifford Ordia said the request is not new as it was approved in the borrowing plan when the National Assembly passed the 2021 budget noting that it would be used to fund the budget deficit.
Nigeria's External Debt from June 2018 to Mar 2021
Nigeria External Debt reached 32.9 USD bn in Mar 2021, compared with 33.3 USD bn in the previous quarter. Nigeria External Debt: USD mn data is updated quarterly, available from Dec 2006 to Mar 2021. The data reached an all-time high of 33.3 USD bn in Dec 2020 and a record low of 3.3 USD bn in Mar 2007. Debt Management Office Nigeria provides quarterly External Debt in USD. External Debt covers General Government Debt only.
President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier in May asked the National Assembly to approve the loan request, saying it would be raised from multilateral and bilateral tenders as well as the international capital market.
The Committee recommended that the Senate approves Buhari’s request for the issuance of $3,000,000,000 but not more than $6,183,081,643.40 Eurobond in the International Capital Market. The External Borrowing of N2,343,387,942,848, according to the panel, should be for the financing of part of the deficit authorised in the 2021 Appropriation Act.
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