The Director-General, Debt Management Office, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo has
disclosed that Nigeria’s external debt profile has risen to $11 billion
as at last week as against the $ 9.4 billion recorded in March.
Similarly, domestic debt profile was said to have risen to N11 trillion.
Nwankwo disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Kaduna on
Friday shortly after declaring open a one-day enlightenment workshop
with leaders of students' unions from tertiary institutions.
Nwankwo, however, said the quantum of the debt did not really matter.
He said the most important thing was how the resources were deployed to
encourage economic growth, development, generate employment and reduce
poverty.
According to him, the concern about debt is "whether you are in a
position to pay back what you borrowed as at when due," stressing that
in the case of Nigeria, the debts remain sustainable.
He noted that the current global economic problems, particularly the
collapse of oil prices, were having a significant impact on economies
all over the world.
Nwankwo said, "because the Nigerian economy is very resilient and because the government is in control, Nigeria’s debts continue to remain sustainable.
"Presently Nigeria owes, domestically, about N11 trillion and
externally, about $11 billion.The figures are the total of all debts in
the federation. It includes external debts of the federal and all the
state governments as well as the domestic debts of the federal
government and all the state governments.
"Let me emphasise that what matters is not just the quantum, what is
important is how these resources are deployed to encourage growth,
development, generate employment and reduce poverty.
"It matters whether you are in a position to pay back what you borrowed
as at when due and in the case of Nigeria, I want to assure you that
Nigeria’s debt remains sustainable.
"Based on current global economic problems, particularly the collapse
of oil prices, this is having significant impact on economies all over
the world. Because the Nigerian economy is very resilient and because
the government is in control, Nigeria’s debts continue to remained
sustainable."
Nwankwo commended the federal government and the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) for maintaining a healthy reserve and for stabilising the
exchange rate in spite of the shock occasioned by the drastic drop in
oil revenue.
He said Nigerians should be proud that they have a government, a CBN
and an economic system that is sound, in spite of the shock we have.
He noted that other countries like Venezuela and Russia that had been
in similar position had had their currencies devalued very rapidly in
the first 30 days of the oil shock.
"But you can observe that it was until about three or four months later
that the CBN had to do some little adjustments with the exchange rate.
"Nigerians should be proud that the economy is so resilient, that we
have enough food for our population and that food prices, in spite of
what has happened in the past seven months or more continues to be
moderate.
"That shows that over the years, we have attempted to improve, to
diversify the economy, to strengthen our agriculture and that is a
source of inspiration for all of us," he said.
He urged Nigerians to use "the opportunity of President Muhammadu
Buhari’s change to do better than we did in the past by working hard in
making sure that agriculture continues to expand and modernise so that
we can have real food security."
Source: thisdaylive.com
No comments:
Post a Comment