Nigeria raises $1.25bn in Eurobond sale

Patience Oniha, the director-general of the Debt Management Office (DMO), announced on Thursday, that Nigeria raised $1.25 billion through a seven-year Eurobond sale.

Nigeria has become the first African country to get access to the international capital market in 2022, according to Mrs Oniha.

Nigeria’s ability to obtain Eurobond at this time was proof of the country’s presence with the ICM and ongoing interaction with investors.

The revenues of the bonds, she added, will be used to finance the budget and fill infrastructure gaps.

“The offer was launched at an initial price of 8.75 per cent per annum and on the back of strong investor demand, Nigeria was able to reverse the price guidance to 8.5 per cent per annum. The order book continued to grow, reaching a peak of four billion dollars,” she said.

“With this strong investor interest the price was tightened at 8.37 per cent per annum, the order book still remained high at 3.67 billion dollars and still retained quality investors,” she said.

She said that Nigerian investors also participated in the offer with a total subscription of $60 million dollars.

She went on to say that the Eurobonds would help the economy recover and would immediately and fully contribute to the level of Nigeria’s external reserves.

The DMO had earlier on Thursday disclosed that Nigeria’s entire debt stock as of December 2021 was N39.55 trillion, according to reports.

According to the DMO, the country’s rising debt burden is mostly utilized to fund capital projects and human capital development.

Mrs Oniha stated that the country’s debt has escalated as a result of different socioeconomic concerns as well as global events.

“Borrowings are essentially for Capital Expenditure and Human Capital Development as specified in the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.

“Having witnessed two economic recessions, we have had to spend our ways out of recession, which contributed significantly to the growth in the public debt.

“It is unlikely that our recovery from each of the two recessions would have been as fast without the sustained government expenditure funded partly by debt,’’ she said.