Nigeria’s eurobonds fall as FG rules out petrol price increase

Nigeria’s eurobonds fell for a second day on Wednesday, after the government ruled out any increment in the pump price of petrol despite the recent rise in global crude oil prices. 

The country’s eurobonds recorded the worst performance in emerging markets on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg data.

Specifically, notes due September 2033 were down 1.1 cents on the dollar to 75.19, the lowest since June.

The news agency said the 2033 bonds have lost value for 10 of the past 13 days.

Also, a $1 billion tranche of notes maturing in January 2031 fell 1.09 cents to 84.79 cents.

Bloomberg said prices on debt due in 2032, 2033, and 2051 similarly fell by at least one cent in early morning trade on Wednesday.

“After rallying sharply on the back of Tinubu’s ambitious reform shift, the reality has set in that the next stage of reforms is likely to be much more difficult,” Patrick Curran, senior economist at Tellimer Ltd. in London, was quoted as saying.

“The FX liberalisation process has hit a bump in the road with an overly loose monetary policy stance, continued monetization of the budget deficit and re-emergence of a large parallel-market premium.”

Razia Khan, head of research for Africa and the Middle East at Standard Chartered Plc, said: “The gas-price freeze appears to be a temporary price stabilization measure rather than a reversal of subsidy reforms.”

“Should this turn out to be a more permanent reversal of fuel-subsidy reforms, however, then that would be a clear credit negative, as Nigeria cannot afford the fuel subsidy in any meaningful way.”

On Wednesday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited, secured a $3 billion emergency crude repayment loan to support the naira and stabilise the foreign exchange market.