Nigeria to Offer $500 Million of Dollar-Denominated Securities

Nigeria’s government plans to sell $500 million of dollar-denominated securities in the domestic market to attract foreign currency held by its citizens living abroad, Finance Minister Wale Edun said.

The offering will take place within the next four weeks, Edun told reporters at a briefing in Abuja, the capital, on Thursday. While there is the opportunity to consider a eurobond offering, the government will hold off issuing one for now, he said.

“Eurobond is one of the options that we have, the markets are open to us, our ratings and our performance merit it,” Edun said. “But we prefer in the first instance to challenge Nigerians to come home with their money and be part of the Nigerian reform success story.”

 

 By Ruth Olurounbi.

Full story at Bloomberg.