We are the 7th most populated nation in the world with all types of economic and infrastructural challenges, I have often heard countrymen complaining about our soaring debt profile but looking at this info published by visualcapitalist .com I started wondering if we are really borrowing enough. Nations like United State, Japan, China, Italy, Germany and United Kingdom top the list. Is there something we are missing?

At continental level Africa has 1.9% of total world debt which is the lowest with Asia and Pasific having 34.8% followed by North America 34.2%. At the country level the top 3 countries which I mentioned above actually owed 57.8% of total debt. Which is a whopping $39trillion of the 69 trillion world debt. Leaving the rest of the world to share the crumbs falling from their dining table.

President Obasanjo and the then minister of finance spent most of their tenure lobbying for debt relief for the country which they achieved and that was considered a great achievement.

My question is, why are the biggest debtors doing great and they are not complaining while some of them even lend to us from what they themselves borrowed? Nigerian ranked 47 in the world with 0.2% of the world debt and most importantly 27.3% debt to gdp. We owe $109 billion compare to Japan which I think is the worst debtor with aprox $12 trillion, 17% with debt to gdp 237%.

Maybe we need to borrow more to build infrastructures and invest in research. Economists, what do you think?

Visualizing $69 Trillion of World Debt in One Infographic
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/69-trillion-of-world-debt-in-one-infographic/

Nigeria prolly need to borrow more to fund massive infrastructural development but with the kind of leader we ve and produce,it ll end up being looted and relooted through ambiguous contract inflation and more

kk

Nigeria's 27.3% of dept goes to gdp while Japan 17% goes to gdp. Japan annual budget is in trillions of dollars while Nigeria's annual budget is approximately 28 to 30 billion dollars. If u ask me I will tell u Nigeria dept profile is the worst compare to our income generation

kufre2010:
Nigeria's 27.3% of dept goes to gdp while Japan 17% goes to gdp. Japan annual budget is in trillions of dollars while Nigeria's annual budget is approximately 28 to 30 billion dollars. If u ask me I will tell u Nigeria dept profile is the worst compare to our income generation

Nope. Look at the infographic again Japan owes 17% of total debts in the world and has 237% debt to gdp. All countries in yellow shade are the worst debtors Japan, Greece, Venezuela and Sudan

slowice:
Nigeria prolly need to borrow more to fund massive infrastructural development but with the kind of leader we ve and produce,it ll end up being looted and relooted through ambiguous contract inflation and more

You are right. If debt is not properly utilized we'll be worst for it.

olu77:
We are the 7th most populated nation in the world with all types of economic and infrastructural challenges, I have often heard countrymen complaining about our soaring debt profile but looking at this info published by visualcapitalist .com I started wondering if we are really borrowing enough. Nations like United State, Japan, China, Italy, Germany and United Kingdom top the list. Is there something we are missing?

At continental level Africa has 1.9% of total world debt which is the lowest with Asia and Pasific having 34.8% followed by North America 34.2%. At the country level the top 3 countries which I mentioned above actually owed 57.8% of total debt. Which is a whopping $39trillion of the 69 trillion world debt. Leaving the rest of the world to share the crumbs falling from their dining table.

President Obasanjo and the then minister of finance spent most of their tenure lobbying for debt relief for the country which they achieved and that was considered a great achievement.

My question is, why are the biggest debtors doing great and they are not complaining while some of them even lend to us from what they themselves borrowed? Nigerian ranked 47 in the world with 0.2% of the world debt and most importantly 27.3% debt to gdp. We owe $109 billion compare to Japan which I think is the worst debtor with aprox $12 trillion, 17% with debt to gdp 237%.

Maybe we need to borrow more to build infrastructures and invest in research. Economists, what do you think?

Visualizing $69 Trillion of World Debt in One Infographic
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/69-trillion-of-world-debt-in-one-infographic/

Are you now comparing united state, Japan, China etc with Nigeria

The devil is still growing

You listed Nigeria debt without listing the developments compared with those countries..

Issa okay

Taba21:


Are you now comparing united state, Japan, China etc with Nigeria

Just wondering if with the right leaders debt is a good thing

helinues:
You listed Nigeria debt without listing the developments compared with those countries..

Issa okay

That is my point. Is debt a catalyst to development?

olu77:


That is my point. Is debt a catalyst to development?

It depends on what they use the money for.. Though we might not been having development as expected with this current government but at least they had made use of the money for visible projects

olu77:


Just wondering if with the right leaders debt is a good thing

Nautical

You can NEED all kinds of things all day long.

Borrowing , ABOVE EVERYTHING, must be linked to the ability to REPAY the debt..

The ability to repay is LINKED to REVENUE and other debts already being serviced.

At the moment we are told 25% of the Federal budget is used to service debt.
If we borrow more then that percentage would exceed 25%.
How much is "too much"?

For me 25% is too much


We must not forget that there is always possibility of CRISIS i.e. loss of revenue from a crash in oil prices or Niger Delta militancy or both during the life time of the loan.

This makes it very risky to lend to Nigeria especially in NAIRA as we saw in 2015-2017

Crucially we are not borrowing to invest in stuff with cash flow like refineries but in social infrastructure which is allocated NOT ON THE BASIS OF A BUSINESS CASE but on Federal character considerations.
We are borrowing to subsidize petrol and expensive and wasteful governance.

It is important to change whilst we still have a choice than wait till the IMF makes a choice for us.
Before we borrow another naira we should set a date for removal of petrol subsidy , even it it is 5 years away.
We cannot afford it

FINALLY

For government it is excellent to borrow if you borrow only in your own currency
In Nigeria government borrowing from the Central Bank has been at over 10% . The question is WHY can't the government borrow cheaper in Nigeria

One It is already owing so much and the government level of spending is inflationary because we import so much and produce so little the Naira is weak and we have chronic inflation.
Sadly government spend goes largely to fund importation and not local production

The Op will not tell you that as Japan is the second biggest debtors it is one of the biggest lenders in the world.

[s]

helinues:


It depends on what they use the money for.. Though we might not been having development as expected with this current government but at least they had made use of the money for visible projects

[/s]
shatap

AkwalaIke1:
[s][/s]
shatap

With how many comments to cancelled. We are going sack you at last for not being effective

[s]

helinues:


With how many comments to cancelled. We are going sack you at last for not being effective

[/s]

[s]

helinues:
You listed Nigeria debt without listing the developments compared with those countries..

Issa okay

[/s]

riches4me:
The Op will not tell you that as Japan is the second biggest debtors it is one of the biggest lenders in the world.

That is the irony of it all.

0monnak0da:
You can NEED all kinds of things all day long.

Borrowing , ABOVE EVERYTHING, must be linked to the ability to REPAY the debt..

The ability to repay is LINKED to REVENUE and other debts already being serviced.

At the moment we are told 25% of the Federal budget is used to service debt.
If we borrow more then that percentage would exceed 25%.
How much is "too much"?

For me 25% is too much


We must not forget that there is always possibility of CRISIS i.e. loss of revenue from a crash in oil prices or Niger Delta militancy or both during the life time of the loan.

This makes it very risky to lend to Nigeria especially in NAIRA as we saw in 2015-2017

Crucially we are not borrowing to invest in stuff with cash flow like refineries but in social infrastructure which is allocated NOT ON THE BASIS OF A BUSINESS CASE but on Federal character considerations.
We are borrowing to subsidize petrol and expensive and wasteful governance.

It is important to change whilst we still have a choice than wait till the IMF makes a choice for us.
Before we borrow another naira we should set a date for removal of petrol subsidy , even it it is 5 years away.
We cannot afford it

FINALLY

For government it is excellent to borrow if you borrow only in your own currency
In Nigeria government borrowing from the Central Bank has been at over 10% . The question is WHY can't the government borrow cheaper in Nigeria

One It is already owing so much and the government level of spending is inflationary because we import so much and produce so little the Naira is weak and we have chronic inflation.
Sadly government spend goes largely to fund importation and not local production

You nailed it for me.