Nigeria Can’t Cover Huge Revenue Shortfall With Debts- Teriba

The Chief Executive Officer of Economic Associates Ltd, Dr. Ayo Teriba, has said that Nigeria cannot cover its huge revenue shortfall by accumulating debts from foreign institutions.

Nigeria’s external debt profile is currently pegged at $29.941 billion by the Debt Management Office (DMO), while the foreign reserves have dropped to $37.23 billion.

Reacting to the country’s debt profile and the recent request by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly for the approval of $3 billion World Bank loan, the economist told THE WHISTLER that the shortfall in the country’s revenue could not be bridged with the $3 billion loan.

Teriba said Nigeria’s revenue through exports, in the last 5 years, had dropped by $50 billion compared with the $100 billion average revenue generated from exports between 2010-2014.

According to him, “the shortfall that Nigeria encountered, if we look at 5 years from 2010 to 2014, the country got an average of $100 billion from exports, while since 2015 to date, the country has struggled to get $50 billion from exports.

“The external liquidity shortfall is almost $50 billion, so you can’t borrow $3 billion to cover $50 billion shortfall. Nigeria cannot cover shortfall through debt.”