Nigeria not defaulting in China debt repayment, DMO claims By Joseph Chibueze, Abuja

 FILE PHOTO: The Chinese national flag is seen in Beijing. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

By Joseph Chibueze, Abuja

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has described as false, a report claiming that Nigeria is

defaulting on Chinese loan repayment and risks a penalty amounting to N41.31 billion.

The story, published in some national media, quoted a DMO report, which said Nigeria has failed to fully service its debt to China, that has accumulated to N110.31 billion in the last two years.

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According to the report, the China debt stock included the principal and repayment charges. It puts the principal fee from January 2021 to December 2022 at N69 billion ($153.85 million), while the interest charges amounted to N41.3 billion ($92.1 million).

But the DMO, in a rebuttal posted on its website yesterday, urged the general public to ignore the publication describing it as false.

“A closer look at the media publications will show that the body is completely detached from the headline which gives the impression that the publishers may have set out to mislead the public,” the debt office said.

It stressed that Nigeria is fully committed to honouring its debt obligations and has not defaulted on any of its obligations.

As at December 31 2022, Nigeria’s total public debt stock stood at N46.25 trillion.

Many Nigerians have expressed worry over the rising debt stock and a huge percentage of the revenue spent on servicing it.