A $50 Billion Overdraft Is Set to Become Nigeria’s Debt
- Such borrowing has exploded 30-fold under President Buhari
- Acceptance would add about 50% to official public debt
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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is pushing lawmakers to let him add an unpaid $50 billion overdraft from the central bank to the country’s public debt pile despite concerns about the legality of the borrowing.
The outgoing head of state has asked the Senate to approve his plan to convert 22.7 trillion naira ($50.4 billion) in advances from the Central Bank of Nigeria into bonds that will be repayable over decades. The move would immediately boost the country’s official debt load by more than half, propelling Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio toward the 40% limit set by the administration.