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.... ....   Home  |  Cover Stories  |  National Newsreel  |  Politics  |  Business  |  Sports  |  World  | Contact Towards a better life for the people Search The Archives   Cover Stories National News South West Niger Delta South East North Politics Business Sports World Viewpoints Features   ..... NATIONAL NEWS External debt choking Nigeria — DMO By Emma Ujah Monday, October 18, 2004 ABUJA — THE Debt Management Office (DMO) has cried out over Nigeria’s external debt burden which it believes is clearly unsustainable, requiring pragmatic and proactive actions by creditors if the economy was not to be strangulated by debt. In its 2003 Annual Report released in Abuja, at the weekend, the DMO said the debt stock as at end 2003 which was $32.92 Billion was 64.43 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and translates to $261.26 per capital. The situation has become worse with the debt having risen to $34 billion, as announced by President Olusegun Obasanjo in his 2005 Budget presented to the National Assembly, last week. The high increase was despite the N183.60 Billion allocated to external debt servicing in this year’s budget. “The severity of the external debt overhang could be seen in terms of debt to export ratio of over 176. 9 per cent and a debt service due to export ratio estimated at 19.41 per cent in 2003. These ratios represent a standard case of debt overhang and classify Nigeria as a severely indebted poor country,” it said. Total external debt service payments for the year 2003 was $1.809 billion compared to $1.168 billion in 2002, representing an increase of $640 million or 54.87 per cent rise. The amount comprises principal payments of $$1.261 billion; an interest payment of $522.66 million; commitment charges of $12.71 million; penalty charges of $6.27 million; and other charges amounting to $5.98 million. DMO said that appropriation for external debt service in 2003 was only about 34.27 per cent of the external debt obligations for that year which was put at $5 .250 billion, which was more than 60 per cent of the entire federal government budget for the year.   Home  |  Cover Stories  |  National Newsreel  |  Politics  |  Business  |  Sports  |  World  | Contact © 1998- 2004. Vanguard Media Ltd.

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