To further strengthen Nigeria’s presence in the International Capital Market (ICM), the Federal Government has concluded arrangement to issue N80billion FGN bonds in form of Global Depository Notes (GDN) before the end of the year, it was learnt.
This is in addition to the issuance of US$1billion Eurobond and US100 million Nigeria Diaspora bond.
Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr Abraham Nwankwo, who made this known at a briefing on “Advances in, and Status of the Public Debt Management in Nigeria”, in Enugu at the weekend, also said the nation’s total debt to Gross Domestic Products (GDP) ratio stands at 20.77 per cent against the 21.50 per cent in December 2011.
A GDN is a debt instrument created by a depositary bank, such as Citibank, that shows ownership of a local currency-denominated debt security. GDNs emulate the terms (interest rate, maturity date, credit quality, etc.) of particular local currency-denominated bonds; however, they trade, settle, and pay interest and principal in U.S. Dollars.
