VenturesNow

Nigeria’s debt office says total debt rose to $103b in 2022

Published

2 years ago

March 30, 2023

Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that the country’s total public debt rose to 46.25 trillion naira ($103.1 billion) in 2022.

The rise was from 39.56 trillion naira in the year 2021, as the government ramped up borrowing to fund its budget deficit.

Recall that the Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Ms. Patience Oniha, in January disclosed that the country’s total debt stock may hit N77 trillion by the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on May 29, 2023

Nigeria in 2022 also sold $1.25 billion Eurobonds, marking its eighth outing on international debt markets. The country has been raising debt to fund infrastructure and boost a fragile economy battling high inflation.

According to the DMO, Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 23.2% in 2022, compared with 22.47% in 2012.

Nigeria’s public finance is currently affected by dwindling oil prices and industrial-scale crude oil theft and the high amount expended on fuel subsidies as Nigeria continues to grapple with an increasing debt burden.

Analysts have predicted that Nigeria’s debt situation will be the first confronting task its next president, Bola Tinubu will be forced to face when he takes over government on May 29.

VenturesNow

IMF, Egypt reach agreement for fourth review of Egypt’s $1.2 billion loan request

Published

16 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Egypt and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a staff-level agreement over the fourth review of the Extended Fund Facility arrangement, which might lead to a $1.2 billion payout under the program.

In March, Egypt, struggling with rising inflation and cash shortages, consented to the $8 billion, 46-month facility. Its economic problems were made worse by a precipitous drop in Suez Canal revenue over the last year due to regional tensions.

Over the next two years, Egypt’s government has committed to raising its tax-to-revenue ratio by 2% of GDP, according to the IMF, emphasising removing exemptions rather than raising taxes.

According to a statement from the IMF, this would allow it to expand social expenditure to support vulnerable populations.

“While the authorities’ plans to streamline and simplify the tax system are commendable, further reforms will be needed to enhance domestic revenue mobilization efforts,” the statement said.

According to the IMF statement, Egypt had also committed to maintaining its commitment to a flexible currency rate and to taking more urgent action to guarantee that the private sector became the primary driver of development.

The IMF’s executive board still has to accept the fourth review’s staff-level agreement.

VenturesNow

Libya’s eastern govt accepts petrol subsidy elimination

Published

16 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In a recent statement, the eastern government of Libya claimed it had reached a consensus on a plan to eliminate gasoline subsidies and would draft a mechanism to carry out the accord.

Additional information on the idea was not released by the administration led by Osama Hamad, a challenger to the internationally acknowledged Tripoli-based government.

However, it is uncertain if Hamad’s government would be able to carry out the plan in the divided nation.

According to the Global Petrol Prices online tracker, a litre of gasoline costs just 0.150 Libyan dinars ($0.03) in OPEC member Libya, making it the second-cheapest in the world.

Following an uprising against former ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, smuggling networks have thrived in the ensuing political unrest and armed fighting. In 2014, conflicting eastern and western governments separated the nation.

A World Bank analysis estimates that the annual value of fuel smuggling from Libya is at least $5 billion.

In a meeting with Mari Barrasi, the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), located in Tripoli, and four members of the bank’s board of directors, Hamad in Benghazi supported the idea of removing subsidies.

The CBL’s Benghazi branch offices served as the venue for the conference.

The eastern parliament appointed Hamad in 2023 to succeed Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who had been put in position in 2021 under a U.N.-backed procedure that the parliament said had lost its legitimacy.

Dbeibah, who is located in Tripoli, stated in January that he will conduct a public poll on the topic of eliminating gasoline subsidies, but he hasn’t done anything about it since.

According to CBL figures, gasoline subsidies cost 12.8 billion Libyan dinars between January and November of this year. 4.8 Libyan dinars to $1 is the official exchange rate.