The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has borrowed the sum of $2.02 billion as loan from China from 2015 to 2021.
This was contained in a data posted by the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Monday.
The data showed Nigeria’s total debt from China as of June 30, 2015 stood at $1.38 billion.
But as of March 31, the country’s debt portfolio from China had risen to $3.40 billion.
The DMO said loans from China are concessional loans with interest rates of 2.50% per annum, a tenure of 20 years and grace period of seven years.
According to the debt office, the terms of the loans were compliant with the provisions of Section 41 (1a) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.
The loans from China are tied to project. Namely, (eleven in number as at March 31, 2020), include the Nigerian Railway Modernization Project (Idu-Kaduna section), the Abuja Light Rail Project, Nigerian Four Airport Terminals Expansion Project (Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt), Nigerian Railway Modernization Project (Lagos-Ibadan section) and the Rehabilitation and Upgrading of Abuja-Keffi-Makurdi Road Project.
The DMO currently revealed that Nigeria had more than $5.83 billion foreign loans that had been approved but not paid in as of December 31, 2020. Out of this amount, $1.25 billion is to come from the Export-Import Bank of China. China has remained the nation’s largest creditor.