Nigeria’s external debt now $9.4bn

The Debt Management Office (DMO) says Nigeria’s external debt profile stood at $9.4 billion as at the end of March 2015.

This was disclosed in a release that DMO published on its website on Monday, detailing the country’s debt stock profile.

According to the release, the figure shows a decrease of about $300 million from the $9.7 billion that the country had as its debt stock as at December 31, 2014.

A breakdown of figures showed that Nigeria’s largest debt is to the World Bank, with a debt of $5.6 billion to the bank’s international development association and 89.4 million dollars to the international fund for agricultural development.

It further disclosed that Nigeria owed the African Development Bank (AfDB) $200 million and owe another $513.7 million to the African Development Fund (ADF), a subsidiary of the AfDB Group.

Similarly, Nigeria’s indebtedness to Arab Bank Economic Development for Africa stood at $4.4 million, while its debts to European Development Fund and Islamic Development Bank were $75.1 million and $19.6 million respectively.

The debt profile also shows that the country’s indebtedness through bilateral agreement to Exim Bank of China and French Development Agency were $1.2 billion and $140.2 million.

It further said that Nigeria’s external debt stock through government’s issuance of Eurobond stood at a balance of $1.5 billion.