President Buhari Calls for Debt Forgiveness

Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, called on the international financial institutions to cancel the debt obligations of member countries to help them restart their economies which have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Buhari made the call during a meeting with other heads of state from the Non-Aligned Movement.

 Buhari in an official statement said,  “outright debt cancellation,” would help mitigate the impact of the economic fallout induced by the virus.

Meanwhile, nearly half of Nigeria’s debt is owed to multilateral lenders, like the World Bank Group with $10.1 billion.

The country also owes  Beijing-based Export-Import Bank of China $3.2 billion, while Eurobonds account for $10.86 billion or 39% of the country’s  external debt, a data by the Debt Management Office details.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had on  28 March approved $3.4 billion in emergency financing for Nigeria