We Will Not Publish How We Will Spend It – Oyedele Speaks On $5 Billion Abu Dhabi Loan

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has turned down calls for the Federal Government to publish details of how it plans to spend funds obtained from its $5bn financing facility with First Abu Dhabi Bank.

Naija News reports that the Federal Government recently drew about $1.5bn, the first tranche of the $5bn Total Return Swap facility arranged with First Abu Dhabi Bank, despite concerns from the International Monetary Fund and Fitch Ratings over the risks associated with such financing structures.

However, speaking on Wednesday during a media briefing in Abuja, Oyedele stated that the  transaction had been subjected to unnecessary scrutiny,

He argued that the facility was approved by the National Assembly and was structured to help the government refinance more expensive debt.

Responding to a question on the borrowing plan and whether details of the First Abu Dhabi Bank transaction would be made public, Oyedele said the government would publish information on how it spends public funds but questioned why the particular facility was receiving special attention.

“We will not publish how we are spending it. We will publish how we spend government money. There’s nothing special about that loan,” he said

He added, “Nobody has asked us whether we’re going to publish the money we took from the World Bank, whether we publish the one from Eurobond, whether we publish the one from Sukuk. Why is this one special?”

Oyedele also dismissed suggestions that the transaction was conducted without due process, noting that it had been presented to the National Assembly.

“The loan was approved not only by FEC, it was taken to National Assembly because what some people are doing is they comparing with other countries where they did it under the table.

“What else can be more public than what you gave to the National Assembly?” he said.

The minister said the government had assessed the transaction carefully and was accessing the funds in phases to avoid incurring unnecessary costs.

“We’re assessing it in phases. You don’t want to take all the money at once because if you don’t spend it at once, you incur cost on the extra amount you’ve taken,” he said.

He explained that the financing arrangement was different from Nigeria’s traditional fixed-rate borrowing because the First Abu Dhabi Bank facility had a flexible interest rate.

“You need to understand the transaction. You know, there’s always the textbook analysis, and there’s the real life of what you’re doing.

“So, we’re used to raising bonds on fixed interest rate terms. You see, I can tell you our Eurobond, for example, they were raised when the coupon was double digits. Today, our yield is down to around seven, 7.5 per cent,” Oyedele said.

According to him, Nigeria could not benefit from the lower yield on its existing fixed-rate debt.

“This First Abu Dhabi Bank transaction is flexible rates. It means if rates go up, we pay more. If rates come down, we benefit more.

“There’s nothing that says we must always do one thing. And the all-in rate for this transaction is lower than our existing portfolio,” he said

Oyedele said the primary objective was to refinance more expensive debt and reduce the government’s borrowing costs.

“So the objective is to use it to refinance expensive debt so you can save money,” he said