A new report has shown that Nigeria owes 51 per cent of its cumulative $15.35 per cent external debt to the World Bank Group. A report by FBN Capital research titled: ‘External Debt Ratios to Savour’ said the Federal Government of Nigeria’s (FGN’s) external debt obligations at end-September amounted to $15.35 billion, equivalent of 3.9 per cent of 2016 Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The investment and research firm said the increase over third quarter debt statistics amounted to just $300 million, consisting largely of disbursements by the soft loan windows of the World Bank and the African Development Bank, and by the Agence Française de Développement (the French state investment bank). Nigeria will next month be raising $3 billion from the Eurobond market to help fund part of the 2017 budget. “The point to be made, amid some commentary about the FGN’s return this month to the Eurobond market to raise $3 billion.