Government places embargo on foreign loans

Nigeria’s government has banned all its agencies and parastatals from taking out foreign loans in a bid to manage its US $32.8-billion external debt, ‘The Guardian’ reported on Monday. The Lagos newspaper quoted the special adviser to the president, Philip Asiodu, as saying that concessionary loans at rates as low as 0.75 percent were the only exception. The government is, however, negotiating a US $1 billion loan with the World Bank, which Asiodu said, is to help fund its poverty alleviation programme. He said the government’s main concern was to keep its spending within budgetary limits, ‘The Guardian’ added.