Debt Mgt Office slams Bloomberg for allegedly misquoting Finance Minister on Nigeria’s debt profile

In contrast to reports by the American financial, software, data, and media firm Bloomberg, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has stated that Nigeria has no intentions to restructure its debt.

The DMO made this remark on Thursday in response to a recent Bloomberg reports that Nigeria was considering reorganizing its debt and extending the time frame for repaying its credit commitments.

Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, the finance minister of Nigeria, was reported in the publication as saying that Nigeria had hired consultants to help the government as it dealt with an increasing load of debt servicing.

The DMO claimed that the minister’s remarks were misrepresented.

It further claimed that “Over the years, Nigeria’s Debt Management Strategy has always highlighted the need to utilise appropriate debt management tools to streamline the cost and risk profile in the debt portfolio.

READ ALSO: Nigerian govt’s debt servicing hits N1.87trn in H1

“Toward implementation of these strategies, Nigeria has typically availed itself of concessional loans, the spreading out of debt maturities to avoid bounching, and re-profiling of debt maturities by refinancing short-term debt using long-term debt instruments.

“All these, non of which constitute debt restructuring, are already being implemented ” the DMO said.

It alsp said that the Nigerian government was also looking forward to exploring other appropriate debt liability management options such as “bond- buy back” and “bond exchanges”.

“We want to assure local and international investors and creditors that Nigeria remains committed and will meet all its debt obligations, ” the DMO said.

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