By Kayode Tokede
The World Bank listed Nigeria among the top 10 countries with high debt risk exposure.
This was revealed in the financial statement for International Development Association (IDA), which was among the World Bank FY21 audited financial statements.
Nigeria was rated fifth on the list with $11.7billion IDA debt stock. India is on the top of the list with $22billion IDA debt stock, followed by Bangladesh with $18.1billion IDA debt stock, Pakistan with $16.4 billion IDA debt stock, and Vietnam with $14.1 billion IDA debt stock.
Other countries on the list include Ethiopia at number 6 with $11.2billion IDA debt stock, Kenya with $10.2billion IDA debt stock, Tanzania with $8.3bn IDA debt stock, Ghana with $5.6billion IDA debt stock, and Uganda with $4.4billion IDA debt stock.
The financial statement reads in part: “IDA faces two types of credit risk: country credit risk and counterparty credit risk.
“Country credit risk is the risk of loss due to a country not meeting its contractual obligations; and counterparty credit risk is the risk of loss attributable to a counterparty not honoring its contractual obligations.
“IDA is exposed to commercial as well as noncommercial counterparty credit risk.”
It stated, “As of June 30, 2021, the 10 countries with the highest exposures accounted for 66 per cent of IDA’s total exposure.”
Nigeria’s undisbursed balance with the World Bank is about $8.656billion as at June 30, 2021.
According to the financial statement for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Nigeria has a total of $589million undisbursed balance, consisting of $500million loans approved but not yet signed and $89million signed loan commitment.
The financial statement for IDA disclosed that Nigeria had a total undisbursed balance of $8.07 billion, consisting of $1.462billion loans approved but not yet signed and $6.61billion signed loan commitment.
The financial statement for IBRD disclosed that although certain amount of loans has been agreed “the loans are not effective and disbursements do not start until the borrowers and/or guarantors take certain actions and furnish documents.”
A total of $1 billion loans were agreed between Nigeria and the World bank’s IBRD, of which Nigeria’s outstanding loan is $411million.
For IDA, a total of $19.54 billion loans were agreed upon, of which Nigeria’s outstanding loan is $11.47 billion.