Online Reporter
Nigeria plans to sell US$186 million of green bonds in two offerings before the end of the year as it seeks to fund an ambitious economic-transformation plan, Environment Minister Balarabe Abbas Lawal said.
A 50 billion-naira (US$31 million) bond will be sold in two weeks and an additional 250 billion-naira one in October, Lawal told reporters in the capital, Abuja, on Wednesday.
“We have the European Union involved, we have the World Bank involved, we have the Ministry of Finance and Debt Management Office involved,” he said, “I want to assure you” that both issuances will be oversubscribed, he said.
There’s also a plan to issue a green dollar bond next year, Lawal said, without elaborating. The debt will fund projects such as water security, green mass transportation and clean energy, he said.
Africa’s top crude exporter is diversifying its economy to reduce its reliance on the fuel and reach net zero emissions by 2060. Oil accounts for at least 80 percent of Nigeria’s export earnings and a recent slump in prices has put its budget forecasts in jeopardy.
With Nigeria’s 2025 budget benchmarked at an oil price of US$75 per barrel and the sectors break-even price close to US$50 per barrel, “it will likely continue to heighten concerns for the country’s growth, fiscal and external accounts,” Ayodeji Dawodu, head of Africa research at BancTrust & Co Investment Bank, said in a note Wednesday. — Bloomberg.
