The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan has described the federal government’s plan for a Eurobond issuance in the International Capital Market (ICM) as a step in the right direction, stressing that the fundamentals and potentials of the nation’s economy are strong with capacity to meet its debt obligations.
Akinwuntan, who was assessing the global market as Nigeria makes its announcement of multibillion dollar Eurobond offering, during an interview on Arise TV Lagos, said the economy is showing strong trends owing to investments in infrastructure such as road and rail transportation which is giving a lot of positive impact to the overall economy, adding that the private sector is also making remarkable improvement in power sector, telecoms, and information technology.
According to him, “You look at the fundamentals, what is the story of this economy? You look at Nigeria, the fundamentals are strong, coming from the lessons learnt in being a mono product economy which was dependent on oil. We have since embarked on the journey of diversification and we are beginning to show early fruits. Exports are improving, Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
provides the opportunity to expand that even further. So, you look at the fundamentals, look at the openness of the economy, the transparency of reporting and look at the opportunities to enhance real growth, output, capacity improvements and stability of policies. All these are factors to look at with a view of participating in the economy like that of Nigeria.”
