Nigeria Is The Fourth Indebted Country In The World -IDA
The International Development Association (IDA), a segment of the World Bank that helps poor countries, has announced that Nigeria has climbed up to the latest top 10 borrowers’ list.
IDA’s latest release on financial statements says Nigeria is the fourth most indebted country, with a $13 billion debt as of June 30, 2022, The Cable reports.
Nexus News learnt that Nigeria ranked fifth on the debt list with $11.7 billion in the debt stock in 2021, but the country accumulated an extra $1.3 billion in debt within a year.
This implies that Nigeria’s debt has outweighed that of Vietnam, which recently occupied the fourth position on the borrowers’ list.
The top ten countries on the IDA borrowers’ list includes India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda.
Regardless, the IDA debt is different from Nigeria’s outstanding debt of $486 million to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), another organisation under the aegis of World Bank.
The World Bank recently said Nigeria’s rising petrol subsidy could present debt sustainability problems for the country.
“Risk remains high on increasing fuel subsidies, which could weigh heavily on public finance and pose debt sustainability concerns,” the Bretton-Woods institution said.
“Nevertheless, public debt as a percentage of GDP is currently moderate.”
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) also called on the federal government to reconsider sources of debt and spending of borrowed funds.
The Cable reports that the top five countries on the list reduced their debts within a year, except for Nigeria.
India lessened its debt from $22 billion in 2021 to $19.7 billion in 2022, Bangladesh reduced its debt from $18.1 billion to $18 billion, Pakistan followed suit by reducing its debt from $16.4 billion to $15.8 billion and Vietnam’s debt reduced from $14.1 billion to $12.9 billion.
