FG To Lobby JP Morgan Over Govt Bond Index

The Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha, says the federal government plans to begin talks with JPMorgan about returning to its government bond index for emerging markets.

Oniha made the disclosure in an interview with Bloomberg, in Abuja on Thursday.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational banking and financial services holding company. It is widely recognized as a global leader in capital raising, for wealthy nations and emerging markets.

The organisation in October 2015 delisted Nigeria from its Government Bond Index for Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) for alleged lack of liquidity and transparency in the nation’s foreign exchange market.

It added Nigeria to its index in 2012 and on January 16, 2015 placed the country on a negative index watch and finally delisted Nigeria in October.

The DMO boss also revealed that the federal government will issue another Eurobond and Sukuk in 2018.

She said the government is looking to float a $2.5 billion Eurobond in the first quarter of 2018 to refinance old debts, adding that the sum would complete the planned issuance of $5.5 billion Eurobond proposed in 2017.

Oniha said the issuance is dependent on market conditions and that the total sum could be raised at once or in tranches.

Recall that in 2017, the federal government had issued a N100 billion Sukuk to finance the construction of 25 economic roads and Eurobonds totalling $3.5 billion to finance budget deficit and refinance old debts.

The federal government announced last year that it intends to fund the 2018 budget deficit of N2.005 trillion through borrowings.