Nigerian Minister of Finance who is also the coordinating minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has stated that that nation’s external debt stood at $6.67 billion (about N1.035 trillion) which is 3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, GDP. She said that the country spent $8.0429 billion in 2006 to service external debt and $10.1072 in 2005 prior to the debt relief of 2006.

The minister said it was important to make the clarification to clear the air on the on-going debate over the nation’s indebtedness. She added , “the external debt is typically owed to foreign creditors such as multilateral agencies [like the Africa Development Bank, World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank], as well as other bilateral sources [including the China Exim Bank, the French Development Bank or the Japanese Aid Agency], or to private creditors such as investors in our Eurobonds.”

Nigerian Minister of Finance who is also the coordinating minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has stated that that nation’s external debt stood at $6.67 billion (about N1.035 trillion) which is 3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, GDP. She said that the country spent $8.0429 billion in 2006 to service external debt and $10.1072 in 2005 prior to the debt relief of 2006.

The minister said it was important to make the clarification to clear the air on the on-going debate over the nation’s indebtedness. She added , “the external debt is typically owed to foreign creditors such as multilateral agencies [like the Africa Development Bank, World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank], as well as other bilateral sources [including the China Exim Bank, the French Development Bank or the Japanese Aid Agency], or to private creditors such as investors in our Eurobonds.”

Okonjo-Iweala said that the loan were taken on concessional terms and assured that Government would monitor the debt stock to ensure it remains low. “Many of the multilateral loans are at zero interests, 40 years maturity, and 10 years grace. Others are at less than three per cent rate of interest.” She added “we shall never be complacent about our national debt. We need to be constantly vigilant to limit the amount of debt and create room for the private sector instead to borrow. As such, we need to stay focused on three main priorities

She said ”we should continue to monitor our external borrowing and ensure that we do not slip back to our high indebtedness prior to the debt relief programme. As I mentioned earlier, the External Borrowing Plan, helps to address this concern by ensuring that we always have a comprehensive, transparent view of our foreign borrowing.”

”We should closely continue to monitor and limit our domestic debt, and ensure that it stays within a prudent and conservative range. We should pay off debt that is due to the extent of our ability. We should also continue to closely monitor borrowing by states to ensure that the debt burdens of our state governments remain within manageable levels and that the borrowings are applied to specific projects that yield results for citizens of the state.”

In that regard, we enjoin banks and other lenders to be careful and prudent when lending to ensure that this is done within the existing rules, regulations and guidelines.”

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Nigeria external debt stands at $6.67 billion – Okonjo-Iweala