Debt Servicing Compromising Nigeria’s Development – NGO

• Debt Servicing Compromising Nigeria’s Development

The cost of debt servicing is compromising the rate of development of the country, a non-governmental organisation, Social Action, has said.

In a statement made available to our correspondent on Thursday, the Head of Social Action in Abuja, Mrs. Vivian Bellonwu-Okafor, said it was disheartening that the Federal Government had spent more than N500bn on debt servicing in the first quarter of this year.

The Federal Government spent N474.06bn to service domestic debt in the first three months of the year and another $127.92m to service foreign debts in the same period.

Bellonwu-Okafor said the cost of servicing debt in the first quarter of the year was already equal to 22.9 per cent of the entire provision for capital projects in the 2017 Appropriation Bill signed into law on Monday by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

She said, “Latest statistics from the Debt Management Office show that the Federal Government has spent over N500bn (N474bn and $127.9m) in servicing both domestic and foreign debts in the first quarter of 2017 alone. This represents seven per cent of the 2017 budget and 22.9 per cent of the entire 2017 capital allocation.”