Nigeria Owes The World Bank, AfDB $5.3Bn

Nigeria is owing the World Bank Group and African Development Bank (AfDB) has reached $5.34billion, accounting for 80.19 per cent of the country’s total $6.67 billion external debt.

The country’s indebtedness to the International Development Association, a lending arm of the World Bank Group is $4.598 billion while it owes African Development Bank Group $667.58 million.

A breakdown of the debt showed that the country owed the IDA $4.598billion, while it owed the International Fund for Agriculture Development $83.37 million.

The country is indebted to the African Development Bank, African Development Fund, Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, European Development Fund and Inter- American Development Bank to the tune of $20.86 million, $529.24 million, $2.65 million, $100.29 million, and $14.54 million, respectively.

The total external debt rose by $143 million in the first quarter of 2013 to $6.67 billion from $6.527 billion at the end of last year.

It rose consistently throughout 2012. For instance, as of March 31, 2012, it stood at $5.91 billion; by June 31, it had risen to $6.03 billion, edging higher to $6.3 billion by September 31 before closing the year at$6.527 billion.

As of December 31, 2012, the Federal Government’s domestic debt stock was N6.537 trillion with FGN bonds accounting for 62.41 per cent (N4.08 trillion) of the figure, while Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds accounted for 32.47 per cent (N2.12 trillion) and 5.12 per cent (N334.56 billion), respectively.

Latest data from the DMO also showed that as of March 31, 2013, the government’s domestic debt stock was N6.493 trillion.

A breakdown of the data, which was posted on the DMO website, indicates that FGN Bonds at N3.82 trillion now accounts for 58.84 per cent of the debt, while Treasury Bills (N2.34tn) and Treasury Bonds (N334 billion) account for 36.01 per cent and 5.15 per cent of the amount, respectively.