FG Floats ‘First Ever’ Green Bond To Fund Renewable Energy Projects
The Debt Management Office (DMO), has launched a N10.69 billion Green bond to fund clean energy projects in the 2017 budget.
The bond, which has a 5-year tenor and an interest rate of 13.45 percent, was opened for subscription on Monday, December 18 and will close on Wednesday, December 20.
The Green Bond is being issued following Nigeria’s endorsement of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change on September 21, 2016.
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The Paris Agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of Climate Change, since the signing of the Agreement, various countries who are parties to the Agreement have initiated several steps aimed at making the environment better.
With the Green Bond Issuance, Nigeria becomes one of the few countries in the world and indeed the first African country to issue a Green Bond.
Speaking on Friday in Lagos, the Director General of the DMO, Patience Oniha said proceeds from the Green Bonds will be used to finance projects in the 2017 Appropriation Act that have been certified as Green because of their positive effects on the environment.
According to her amongst the projects to be financed with the proceeds of the Green Bond Issuance are the Renewable Energy Micro Utilities and Afforestation Programmes.
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The DMO is working with the Federal Ministry of Environment towards the Issuance while Chapel Hill Denham is the Financial Advisers to the Transaction.
In a circular released by the Ministry of environment, the bond will be listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange and FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange.
Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a GB1 (Excellent) Green Bond Assessment to the Issuance.
