China’s N3.2 trillion loan to Nigeria is nothing to worry about — DMO DG, Patience Oniha

Director-general of the Debt Management office, Patience Oniha has revealed that Nigeria’s loans from China are about N3.2 trillion and constitute about 11 per cent of its total external debt.

In an interview with Premium Times, Oniha said the loans are all concessional loans that are project-tied and that there are no reasons for Nigerians to be worried about them.

She also revealed that Nigeria’s debt to Gross Domestic Products (GDP) is currently sustainable, but that there is a need for the country to do much better in terms of debt services to revenue.

Oniha said; 

“I know that last year there were a lot in the public space about borrowing from China. So all of the loans we had from China, the stock of the bilateral credits which is where China belongs, that we have, is small relative to the total stock. So loans from China are about N3.2 trillion which was about 11 per cent of our total external debt.

To add, those are all concessional loans and there are no reasons to be worried about them, they’re all project tied which I think Nigeria should be happy about. We can see the physical infrastructure whether it’s the airport, whether it’s the rail lines, whether it’s the roads.

So we don’t see any reasons for concerns, they’re all project tied and they’re all concessional really. There was a lot of debate, but we did get proper interpretations both from China and the Ministry of Justice. We also as the DMO had China loans on our website way back june 2020. They’re all concessional loans that are project tied and we are not concerned about them.”