World Bank President, David Malpass, addresses Nigeria’s debt restructuring claim

World Bank President, David Malpass, has disclosed that Nigeria hasn’t requested for debt restructuring after reports suggesting the government was weighing the opinion.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that Bloomberg claimed the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said Nigerian government was working on obtaining debt restructuring, and has hired consultants to facilitate the process.

Although the Debt Management Office (DMO) clarified that the publication misquoted Ahmed, but admitted the Nigerian government was considering debt management options.

Talk about debt restructuring surfaced after President Muhammadu Buhari requested debt forgiveness from international creditors at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Also, the total debt of Nigeria had climbed to N42.84 trillion at the end of June, with debt servicing gulping more than the revenue generated by the Nigerian government.

Read also:World Bank bans seven Nigerian firms, individuals from its contracts for corrupt practices

During the ongoing annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Funds (IMF), in Washington, Malpass told the press that World Bank hasn’t received a request for debt restructuring from the Nigerian government.

The World Bank chief said Nigeria’s debt sustainability will be assessed should President Buhari’s government request for a debt relief.

Meanwhile, the DMO had stated 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.

“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.”

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now