Nigeria to confirm loan quest for solar power project
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria is expected by end September to send a final commitment application to the United States Export-Import Bank for a $1.5 billion loan to fund Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) which produces solar power.
Bloomberg disclosed this after it received an email from Adam Cortese, Chief Executive Officer of Sun Africa based in the US.
Sun Africa is being contracted to develop solar power facilities for NDPHC, the news coming days after a report that Nigeria is seeking a $1.5 billion loan from the US Exim Bank for the project.
The project has passed through feasibility studies, technical analysis, and land-permitting phases in the past two years, which makes it due for loan processing with the export credit agency, according to reporting by Nairametrics.
Cortese told Bloomberg Nigeria’s Finance Ministry is expected within the next 60 days to send “final commitment application” to EXIM for the facility, “after which the lender will conduct due diligence on the projects before the loan is finalised.”
The report did not disclose the size of the credit facility from the US EXIM Bank but other sources said it is $1.5 billion.
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Nigeria’s debt grows to N41.6tr
Nigeria’s debt grew to N41.6 trillion in the first quarter ended March (Q1 2022), an increase of N2.05 trillion versus N39.56 trillion in Q4 2021. The debt rose to $100.1 billion, as gleaned from the latest Debt Management Office (DMO) report.
Total public debt includes new domestic borrowing by the federal government to partly finance the 2022 budget deficit.
It also includes $1.25 billion Eurobond issued in March 2022 and loans taken from multilateral and bilateral lenders.
And there were increases in the debt of states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
Breakdown
A breakdown of the debt owed by the federal and state governments in Q1 2022 shows that
- Federal domestic debt jumped 3.99 per cent to $48.45 billion from $46.59 billion in Q4 2021
- Domestic debt of states rose 7.91 per cent to $11.65 billion, and increase of $853 million quarter-on-quarter.
- Total domestic debt grew 4.73 per cent to $60.1 billion.
- FGN Bonds accounted for 70.7 per cent of total domestic debt at N14.24 trillion.
- Nigerian Treasury Bills accounted for 21.88 per cent with a total N4.41 trillion debt
- External debt grew 4.08 per cent to $39.96 billion
- Abuja spent N668.69 billion to service domestic debt, 115 per cent higher than N310.49 billion in Q4 2021 and 9.1 per cent above N612.71 billion in Q1 2021.
- External debt service notched $548.79 million in Q1 2022 versus $286.35 million in Q4 2021.
