The federal government has suspended plans to sell additional N2.18 billion eurobonds due to the outbreak of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
An eurobond is a debt instrument denominated in a different currency than the local one of the country where the bond is issued.
According to Bloomberg, Patience Oniha, director-general for the Debt Management Office (DMO), disclosed this at a conference on Tuesday.
“Omicron came, and markets are not exactly good to go back now,” she said.
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“I can say for this year, we are not approaching the market.”
In October, Oniha had said the government was closely monitoring the international capital market for an additional $2.18bn eurobond issuance after successfully raising $4 billion in September.
The amount will make up the $6.18bn external borrowings already appropriated in the 2021 budget.
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As contained in the 2021 fiscal framework, the federal government projected N8.12 trillion total revenue to fund the 14.57 trillion aggregate expenditure – inclusive of the supplementary budget.
Consequently, the projected fiscal deficit of N6.45 trillion is expected to be financed mainly by domestic and external borrowings.
The eurobonds provide a significant amount of funds to finance projects listed in the 2021 budget.
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