By Chijioke Ohuocha
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria has no plans to approach the Eurobond market next year, and the government will seek to raise funds from other sources, the head of the country’s debt office told Reuters, as fears about the Omicron coronavirus variant rise.
The West African country had its last Eurobond sale in September, its seventh outing where it raised $4 billion. It had been considering issuing more Eurobonds.
“Yes, debt is rising and the source is clear,” Patience Oniha, director general of the government debt agency known as DMO, told Reuters by email.
Oniha said market dynamics will determine any debt sale coupled with government’s ability to secure funds elsewhere.
Global investors are piling into safe-haven assets as vaccines appear less effective against the new Omicron variant, which is spreading rapidly in many countries and spooking markets.
Nigeria has set foreign borrowing at 2.51 trillion naira ($6.1 billion) for the government’s 2022 budget.
Total government debt rose to 38 trillion naira ($92.75 billion) as of September, up 18% from a year earlier, the debt office said on Tuesday.
Nigeria has been racking up debt to fund infrastructure projects and boost a fragile economy now recovering from recession following the impact of an oil price crash triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
($1 = 409.73 naira)
(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha, Editing by William Maclean and Giles Elgood)
