Thursday, 11 April 2019

*N24.39tn💰 Debt: IMF Worries Over Nigeria’s🇳🇬 Repayment Capacity*

The International Monetary Fund, on Tuesday, expressed worry over Nigeria's ability to repay its foreign debt which had continued to rise.

The Financial Counsellor and Director, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF, Tobias Adrian, while presenting the Global Financial Stability Report at the ongoing joint annual spring meetings with the World Bank in Washington DC, said, "Nigeria has been borrowing in international markets but we worry.

When asked to comment on the risk of Chinese growing investment in Africa, Adrian said, "Lending - capital flows in general and these include flows from China - are, of course, important for development, on the one hand.

Adding that the Sovereign Wealth Funds should not be allowed to undertake extra-budgetary spending, the IMF said, "It is critical to develop a strong institutional framework to manage these resources-including good management of the financial assets kept in sovereign wealth funds-and to ensure that proceeds are appropriately spent.

This remains a significant challenge in many resource-rich countries that, on average, have weaker institutions and higher corruption "The governance challenges of commodity-rich countries- that is, the management of public assets- call for ensuring a high degree of transparency and accountability in the exploration of such resources.

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