The Debt Management Office (DMO) has debunked a report that Nigeria is in arrears on its loan repayment to China and faces an N41.31 billion fine.
The report, which was cited in the story and appeared in various national media, said that Nigeria had fallen short of paying off its whole debt to China, which had grown to N110.31 billion during the previous two years.
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.
