Nigeria gets approval to issue US$2.9b Eurobond

The Federal Government has approved Nigeria’s issuance of US$2.9 billion in Eurobonds. 
The approval was given at the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari inside the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja. 
Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said after the meeting that the approval would lead to the implementation of external borrowing plan captured in the 2018 budget. 
She disclosed that the Council also gave an approval for payment to transaction parties, adding that the sum of US$1.2 billion had been released for capital projects as at two weeks ago. 
The Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, who also attended the meeting said that the Council approved loans for families in states of the Niger Delta. 
The Senate also approved President Buhari’s request to raise the external capital from the international market. 
The plan had been approved in the 2018 Appropriation Act. 
The lawmakers also approved the external capital raising of 82.54 million dollars to refinance the balance of 500million dollars matured Eurobond in the international market. 
Chairman of the Committee on Local and Foreign Debts who presented the report says the approval will reduce the cost of borrowing and debt profile of the country. 
But the Senate has however advised the Federal Government to reduce its request for more external borrowing and source for better ways of generating revenue locally.