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| Abraham Nwankwo |
The Debt Management Office, DMO, has said that 20 Nigerian companies raised about N200 billion from the domestic bonds market between 2005 and 2012 to fund the real sector.
The Director-General of the DMO, Abraham Nwankwo, announced this in Enugu on Friday at a press briefing and session on Advances in, and Status of the Public Debt Management in Nigeria.
Mr. Nwankwo described the developments as part of the achievements of the transformation agenda of the current administration.
“This is important because it is in a process of managing Nigeria’s public debt that we develop the market to become useful for the private sector. Less than seven years, at least 20 companies in Nigeria have gone to market to fund the real sector of the economy. This has nothing to do with the government. It has to do with what we have done to transform the market.’’
Mr. Nwankwo said that the DMO had transformed the market to raise long-term funds of up to 20 years from the market. He also disclosed that the office had made it possible for Nigerian companies to issue their own debt instruments in the International Capital Market to fund various projects in the country.
“This helped to create a new window and benchmark for the private sector in the international market. Now, the international markets are now rushing for Nigeria’s bond in the market. In this aspect, we are impacting in the real sector of the economy. Once your debt market is doing well, it will encourage investors to go into equity markets,” he said.
Mr. Nwankwo said the current Strategic Plan 2013-2017 was aimed at consolidating on the gains of the first and second plans. It is also to finalise ongoing initiatives, explore new areas and maintain steady focus on the delivery of the office’s mandate.
He pledged to sustain the implementation of the strategic plan, strengthen the FGN bond market for enhanced liquidity. He also said the office would strengthen the country’s presence in the international capital market through the issuance of $1 billion Eurobond, N80 billion FGN bonds and $100 million Nigerian Diaspora bond.
Mr. Nwankwo used the occasion to commend President Goodluck Jonathan for presenting his midterm report which he said was the first of its kind since the history of Nigeria.
The briefing was attended by media executives and practitioners from Abuja, Enugu and Lagos as well as some financial experts and academics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Source: Premium Times
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