BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
Nigeria has now topped the debtors list in Africa while ranking fourth position in the list of World Bank’s top debtors globally.
The newly released World Bank Fiscal Year 2022 audited financial statements for International Development Association has revealed.
According to the financial report, the African giant now has an IDB debt stock of $13bn since June 30, 2022 while out of the top 10 IDB borrowers’ list, Nigeria was rated fifth with $11.7bn IDA debt stock as of June 30, 2021.
The International Financial Institution also revealed in its audited financial statements that Nigeria has accumulated about $1.3bn IDA debt within a fiscal year, with the country taking over the fourth top debtor position from Vietnam.
This debt is different from the outstanding loan of $486m from the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Other top five countries on the list are said to have slightly reduced their IDA debt stock, except Nigeria.
The report showed that India, which is still the first on the list reduced its IDA debt stock from $22bn in the previous fiscal year to $19.7bn, followed by Bangladesh from $18.1bn to $18bn.
This is followed by Pakistan which cut its debt from $16.4bn to $15.8bn, and lastly, Vietnam, which went down the list to fifth position, from $14.1bn to $12.9bn.
The revelation of the financial report means that Nigeria has the highest IDA debt in Africa, as the top three IDA borrowers (India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) are from Asia.
The World Bank disclosed recently that Nigeria’s debt, which may be considered sustainable for now, is vulnerable and costly.
The bank said, “Nigeria’s debt remains sustainable, albeit vulnerable and costly, especially due to large and growing financing from the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
The Washington-based global financial institution highlighted that Nigeria’s debt was also at risk of becoming unsustainable in the event of macro-fiscal shocks.
The bank further expressed concerns over the nation’s cost of debt servicing, which according to it, disrupted public investments and critical service delivery spending.
Economists have also raised concerns over the rising debt profile of the Federal Government.
A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, in one of his publications, criticised the increasing borrowing tendency of the government, urging the officials to re-consider other ways of generating revenue for the country.
Moghalu said it was also not reasonable to borrow for infrastructural development as the government could expand the public-private partnership options for such development.
