Nigeria’s total external debt now $31b – Finance Minister

THE Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said the put the country’s total borrowings as of  December 31, 2020 at 21.6percent of the GDP.

Ahmed said as of 2019, the debt to GDP ratio was 19.2percent, adding that only two percent was added.Ahmed spoke at the maiden edition of State House briefing held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Though Ahmed did not say the exact amount the country owes in terms of her accumulated loans,  the Director-General, Debt Management Office, Ms Patience Oniha, said the country’s external debt as of  today “is about $31bn.”

The minister said out of the figure, she put Chinese loans at N3.2trn, which she said was about 10% of the total.   

Ahmed, however, advised Nigerians against fretting over the level of borrowings by the Federal Government adding that it is ” not unreasonable, it is not high.”

She said, “There is a lot of sensitivity in Nigeria about the level of borrowing by the government and it is not misplaced.

“I said earlier that the level of borrowing is not unreasonable, it is not high. The problem we have is that of revenue. So, what we need to do is to increase revenue to be able to enhance our debt to GDP obligation capacity.”

Ahmed said if the government decided not to borrow and therefore do not build rails and major infrastructure until revenue rises enough, the country would regress.She described borrowing as a decision that every government has to take.

She added, “Our assessment is that we need to borrow to build our major infrastructure.

“We just need to make sure that when we borrow, we are applying the borrowing to specific major infrastructure that will enhance the business environment in this country”.

She, however,  described the increase in crude oil price as positive for the country, saying the more revenue the nation realises out of the budget, the less it will borrow.

Ahmed said there were plans to get the Federal Executive council to approve a memorandum to compel MDAs to patronise made in Nigeria goods.

On the fears being expressed from certain quotas on Chinese loans, she said the loans are for capital projects.