FG Owes Five Countries $4.85bn

Data from the external loans reports obtained from the Debt Management Office has shown that the Federal Government of Nigeria borrowed about $3.27 billion from five countries between June 30, 2015 and September 30, 2022.

DMO said that within the period, Nigeria’s borrowings from the five countries rose by 206.96 per cent from $1.58bn in June 2015 to $4.85bn by September 2022.

The five countries are China, France, Japan, India and Germany.

In June 2015, Nigeria had borrowed $1.39bn from China’s Exim Bank of China, $140.25m from France’s Agence Francaise Development, $43.10m from Japan’s Japan International Cooperation Agency, $11.73m from Germany’s Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbua and nothing from India’s Exim Bank of India yet.

By September 2022, the bilateral debt profile rose with Nigeria owing China $4.09bn. It also owed France $526.48m, Japan $57.11m, Germany $153.06m, and India $27.17m.

Based on available data, it seems that Nigeria first accumulated debt from India, with $14.79m recorded as debt from India in 2018.

However, China has been Nigeria’s largest bilateral creditor over the years.

The Federal Government had sought loan facilities from Chinese lenders to implement several infrastructural projects, including standard gauge rail lines.

In a document titled, ‘Status of Chinese loans as of September 30, 2021’, the DMO disclosed that 15 projects were funded with Chinese loans. Four of the 15 projects are rail-related.