Investigation has shown that Nigeria’s liabilities to the World Bank Group now stands at $8.52bn.
Statistics obtained from the Debt Management Office in Abuja on Wednesday showed that the group’s portfolio rose from $5.73bn as of March 31, 2015 to $8.52bn as of March 31, 2018.
This means that the bank’s commitment to the country rose by $2.7bn within a period of three years, which is an increase of 48.69 per cent.
There are, however, new disbursements and approvals from the World Bank Group that have not been captured in the country’s debt statistics.
An example of this is the $2.1bn approved by the board of the bank in June for seven projects to support Nigeria’s investment in nutrition, access to electricity, states’ fiscal transparency, polio eradication, women’s economic empowerment, public finance and national statistics, and reducing vulnerability to soil erosion.
A breakdown of the group’s portfolio in the country shows that a greater part of the debt belongs to the International Development Association, an arm of the World Bank that specialises in giving concessional loans to poor and fragile countries. The IDA commitment to Nigeria amounts to $8.4bn.
Another member of the group, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, has a commitment of $124.18m in the country.
With a commitment of $8.52bn, the World Bank is responsible for 38.6 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign portfolio of $22.07bn as of March 31, 2018.
Apart from the World Bank Group, Nigeria is also exposed to some other multilateral organisations such as the African Development Bank, with a portfolio of $1.32bn; and the African Development Fund, with a portfolio of $835.14m.
Others are the International Fund for Agricultural Development, with a portfolio of $160.38m; the Arab Bank for Economic Development, with a portfolio of $5.88m; the EDF Energy (France), with a portfolio of $70.28m; and the Islamic Development Bank, with a portfolio of $17.5m.
Altogether, the multilateral organisations hold 49.52 per cent of the country’s external debt portfolio, while bilateral debts make up $2.34bn or 10.61 per cent of the country’s external debt exposure.
The bilateral agencies to which the country is indebted include the Export Import Bank of China, with a portfolio of $1.9bn; the Agence Francaise de Developppement, $274.98m; the Japan International Cooperation Agency, $77.6m; and Germany, with a portfolio of $92.94m.
Commercial loans now constitute 39.87 per cent of the country’s external debt exposure, with a value of $8.8bn. This reflects the recent trend that has seen the Federal Government increasingly issuing bonds denominated in dollars in the international capital market to raise required capital to fund budget gaps.
The commercial loans constitute of $8.5bn Eurobonds, while the Diaspora Bond through which the Federal Government borrowed from Nigerians living abroad constitutes $300m.
Three years ago, Eurobond was the only commercial loan available and it constituted 15.85 per cent of the country’s external debt exposure with a value of $1.5bn.
On the other hand, multilateral sources constituted 69.08 per cent of the country’s external debt exposure three years ago while bilateral sources made up 15.07 per cent of the country’s total foreign debt exposure of $9.46bn.