A report by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa has revealed that Nigeria and 10 other Economic Community of West African States countries are currently in debt distress based on debt sustainability analysis.
The other countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
The report which was titled ‘Debt Management, restricting and Sustainability in ECOWAS’, was recently launched at the Debt Management Office in Abuja.
According to the report, a financial crisis in Nigeria can threaten other countries in the ECOWAS region.
The report read in part, “According to the debt sustainability analysis, 11 ECOWAS countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo – are currently in debt distress. However, the remaining four countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, and Sierra Leone – are at low risk of debt distress.
“We also find that a financial catastrophe occasioned by a debt crisis in one country may spread throughout the region. The financial woes in Nigeria, in particular, portends a serious threat to other nations in the region.”
It was further disclosed in the report that public debt accumulation in the region is unsustainable, and the need to address and avert the looming debt crisis is emphasized.
