(Reuters) – Nigeria is considering restructuring its debt and extending the repayment period of its credit obligations amid rising debt-service burden, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday through an interview with the country’s Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed.
The Nigerian government plans to refinance domestic debt obligations that are due this year and the next, and 20 trillion naira ($46.05 billion) in outstanding borrowings from the central bank will be bundled into government bonds, the report says, quoting Ahmed.
Nigeria has also appointed a consultant for the larger portfolio of debt to assess how the government can get additional relief to extend the repayments, Bloomberg reported.
The country’s dollar-denominated bonds fell across the curve on Wednesday, with longer-dated issues down as much as 1.8 cents to trade at 56.8 cents in the dollar, Tradeweb data showed.
Nigeria’s international bonds maturing in ten years or beyond are trading at less than 70 cents, the threshold below which debt is considered as distressed.
($1 = 434.2700 naira)
(Reporting by Rittik Biswas in Bengaluru and Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
