World Bank reveals Nigeria servicing $14bn debt

NRTC’s findings have indicated that Nigeria is now servicing World Bank loans totaling roughly $14.12 billion.

108 approved loans were included in the number, which was based on information found on the World Bank website.

The earliest loan now being serviced was authorised in 1989 by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, while the most recent debt currently being serviced was authorised in 2018 by Muhammadu Buhari’s previous administration.

The oldest loan is the $100.9 million Multistate Agricultural Development Project (03), which was granted to support the execution of the state-wide Agricultural Development Projects with the goal of raising food and crop production as well as the income of small farmers.

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Although the principal amount for the project was placed at $100.9m, a total of $106.7m was disbursed.

Loans approved in 2018 were being serviced, disbursing funds, as they were categorised under ‘Disbursing & Repaying’.

One of such loans was the $125m fiscal governance and institutions project, which was approved on June 27, 2018.

Another loan project under disbursing and repaying was the $750m Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project, which was approved on June 27, 2018.

It was disclosed that $737.13m had been disbursed under this loan.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, which make up the World Bank, had, over the years, advanced loans to Nigeria.

The IBRD lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, while the IDA provides concessionary loans – called credits – and grants to governments of the poorest countries.

Nigeria is usually expected to begin servicing a number of the loans after five years of approval and up to over 30 years.

Since the loans were usually concessional financing, they were below-market-rate finance, and cheaper to service.