The newly released World Bank Fiscal Year 2022 audited financial statement, known as the International Development Association, IDA, financial statement, showed that Nigeria has moved from 5th position on the borrowers’ list as at June 30, 2021, with $11.7 billion, to 4th position with $13 billion IDA debt stock as at June 30, 2022,
This debt is different from the outstanding loan of $486 million, from the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The top 5 countries on the list slightly reduced their IDA debt stock for 2022, except Nigeria.
India, which is still the first on the list, reduced its IDA debt stock from $22 billion in the previous fiscal year to $19.7 billion, followed by Bangladesh from $18.1 billion to $18 billion.
It is followed by Pakistan, which cut its debt from $16.4 billion to $15.8 billion, and lastly, Vietnam, which went down the list to 5th position, from $14.1 billion to $12.9 billion.
Nigeria has the highest IDA debt in Africa, as the top 3 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 had said: “Nigeria’s debt remains sustainable, albeit vulnerable and costly, especially due to large and growing financing from the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
However, the Washington-based global Financial Institution added that the country’s debt is 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.
More news later…
