The World Bank has stated that Nigeria is among the top 10 International Development Association borrowers.
The bank stated in clarification to PUNCH story which had stated that Nigeria and nine other nations had been listed among high-debt risk nations.
In a statement made available to our correspondent by Senior External Affairs Officer- Nigeria (Africa External Affairs), Mansir Nasir, the bank said
Nasir said, “We want to clarify that the report does mention nor identify Nigeria at high credit risk as incorrectly claimed by the article.
“Instead, it identifies Nigeria as one of the largest IDA borrowers as of June 30, 2021, and as such, it is one of the countries with the largest exposures to IDA funding.
“The confusion may have arisen from figure 12, which reflects only the country share in the total IDA portfolio, and not the credit risk.”
Our correspondent had reported based on the World Bank Fiscal Year 2021 audited financial statements, particularly the IDA financial statement, that Nigeria was among the list of top 10 countries with high-debt risk exposure.
The report stated that Nigeria was rated fifth on the list with $11.7bn IDA debt stock, while India led the list with $22bn IDA debt stock, followed by Bangladesh with $18.1bn IDA debt stock, Pakistan with $16.4bn IDA debt stock, and Vietnam with $14.1bn IDA debt stock.
Other countries on the list in order of appearance included Ethiopia with $11.2bn IDA debt stock, Kenya with $10.2bn IDA debt stock, Tanzania with $8.3bn IDA debt stock, Ghana with $5.6bn IDA debt stock, and Uganda with $4.4bn IDA debt stock.
The bank had stated, “Portfolio concentration risk, which arises when a small group of borrowing countries account for a large share of loans outstanding, is a key consideration for IDA. Concentration risk is managed through the SBL, which caps exposure to any single borrowing country at 25 percent of equity, in line with the basel-based maximum exposure limit.
“As of June 30, 2021, the 10 countries with the highest exposures accounted for 66 per cent of IDA’s total exposure IDA’s largest exposure to a single borrowing country, India, was $22 billion as of June 30, 2021.”
In another statement, the Debt Management Office said Nigeria was not a high-debt risk nation.
