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This shows the wide gap between the size of domestic borrowing and foreign borrowing, which has seen the government spending much of its revenues, especially during the just exited recession, on debt servicing.
Statistics obtained from the Debt Management Office showed that between October 2015 and September 2017, the Federal Government paid out N2.67tn to service local debts.
Breaking the debt servicing payment down, the Federal Government paid a total of N1.02tn for local debt in 2015. This grew to N1.23tn in 2016.
For the first nine months of 2017, the debt servicing payment had already exceeded the amount for 2016 as the Federal Government had committed N1.24tn to local debt servicing.
Most of the payments were for interests incurred on the funds borrowed monthly by the Federal Government using the instrument of the FGN bonds.
In 2016, for instance, the interest paid on the FGN bonds amounted to N839.17bn. In the same period, the interest on Nigeria Treasury bills added up to N335.58bn, while the interest paid on Treasury bonds amounted to N28.99bn. A total principal of N25bn was paid for Treasury bonds.
Similarly, in the third quarter of 2017, interest payment on the FGN bonds accounted for N377.29bn, while that on NTBs amounted to N143.84bn. On Treasury bonds, N9.38bn was paid, while N159.61m was paid on the new instrument, savings bonds.
The huge debt payment is a reflection of both the high interests on local debts and the size of the Federal Government’s domestic debt in comparison to foreign debt.
As of September 30 this year, the country’s domestic debt stood at N15.68tn.
As of two years ago, the external loan component of the country’s total debt stock stood at N2.09tn. However, as of September 30, 2017, the external debt component stood at N4.60tn. This means that it rose by N2.6tn or 124.4 per cent.
The domestic debt component of the total debt, on the other hand, rose from N10.27tn as of September 2015 to N15.68tn as of September 2017.
This means that within the two-year period, the domestic debt component had risen by N5.41tn. In percentage terms, the domestic debt rose by 52.68.
Although the external debt component of the total indebtedness increased by a higher proportion, the debt statistics as of September this year showed that the domestic debt, with its high cost of servicing, still dominated the country’s borrowing pattern.
While experts believe that the nation’s total debt is low at about 19 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, the opinion is different when the ratio of debt servicing is compared to revenue generation. The ratio is put at about 60 per cent for 2016, and this has raised questions on the country’s debt sustainability.
The recent growth in the external debt component reflects the Federal Government’s move to take more foreign loans as against the acquisition of more costly internal loans.
According to the DMO, the current plan to raise $5.5bn from the external debt market will save the country N166bn if it should borrow the same amount of money from the local debt market.
According to the Director-General, DMO, Patience Oniha, the plan is to increase the ratio of the country’s external borrowing to 40 per cent and reduce the size of domestic borrowing to 60 per cent.
At the moment, the ratio stands at 76.96 per cent for local debt and 23.04 per cent for external debt.
For experts, the plan to raise the country’s external borrowing and curtail domestic borrowing is in order.
However, they warn that such borrowings should be tied to productive ventures that have the capacity to yield profits that will be able to absorb interest payment. They also say that it is important to avoid a future foreign debt overhang.
A former President of the Nigerian Economic Society and Executive Director, African Centre for Shared Development Capacity Building, Prof. Olu Ajakaiye, believes that external borrowing is good but says that pitfalls must be avoided.
Ajakaiye stated, “Shifting to what is today low-cost borrowing, we need to ensure that the funds are applied to generate not only naira, but also foreign currencies. The future challenge and risk of external borrowing should not be ignored.
Similarly, an associate professor and Head of the Department of Banking and Finance, Nasarawa State University, Uche Uwaleke, said that external borrowing comes with exchange rate risks.
“We should not take short foreign loans; and we should tie any loan we take to projects as we did with the Sukuk bond. It should not just be any project but projects that have the capacity to pay back the money,” he stated.
Uwaleke added that the watchword should be self-liquidating loans.
Doctors say condition of former Indonesian president now "very critical".
Family members who have kept up an almost constant presence at his bedside in Jakarta's top hospital have been told to prepare themselves for his death.
The Suharto family mausoleum in central Java has been prepared for his burial.
On Monday Mahathir Mohamad, the 82-year-old former prime minister of Malaysia, was due to visit the hospital, following a visit on Saturday by another South-East Asian elder statesman, Lee Kwan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore.
Suharto, a retired five-star general ruled Indonesia for more than three decades but was forced to step down in 1998 amid widespread protests triggered by the Asian financial crisis.
Critics say his rule was characterised by harsh repression of any dissent, and blame him for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
The former leader, his family and close associates are also accused of siphoning off billions of dollars in government funds during his time in power.
But supporters say Suharto presided over a period of rapid development in Indonesia.
Recent years have seen several attempts to bring Suharto to trial for corruption, but doctors have said his failing health prevented him from being brought to trial.
On Saturday Indonesia's attorney-general announced that a pending civil corruption case against him would be settled out of court.
But OC Kalgis, Suharto's lawyer, told Al Jazeera that the former president's family had rejected the government's offer.
"We have rejected [it] because the state has not managed to give any evidences about its claims in the civil court ... we reject absolutely an out of court settlement," he said.
The Suharto family has repeatedly rejected allegations that it is sitting on a fortune of stolen money.
Israeli forces try to prevent demonstrators from reaching the village, and fire barrages of tear gas at demonstrators.
Roughly 300 people — Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals — marched in the West Bank village on Nabi Saleh on Saturday to demand that Israel free the Tamimi family women, 16-year-old Ahed and her mother, Nariman, as well as other members of the popular resistance committees who have been arrested over the past se...
In addition to the residents of Nabi Saleh, the demonstrators included Joint List head MK Ayman Odeh; Palestinian Legislative Council member Mustafa Barghouti; Mohammad Barakeh, chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel; and Luisa Morgentini, a former member of the European Parliament. Activi...
Israeli forces blocked the main entrance to village early in the morning, but activists managed to arrive in Nabi Saleh via other routes. The demonstrators gathered in the center of the village and began to march, at first led by a line of women to represent the strong female leadership of the popular struggle in the v...
On a hill overlooking the village’s spring, the demonstrators gathered to hear speeches from various prominent figures in attendance. The popular struggle in Nabi Saleh began when settlers from the adjacent settlement of Halamish seized the spring and prevented the village’s residents from reaching it.
As the speeches went on, a number of Palestinian youths engaged in small skirmishes with the soldiers guarding the spring. The soldiers fired tear gas at the youths, and at the rally, which was a considerable distance away. Following the barrage of tear gas, the demonstrators retreated into the village, where they regr...
The demonstrators then marched toward the army blockade on the village’s main road. Soldiers met the demonstrators, again, with a massive barrage of tear gas grenades, as well as with the “skunk,” a putrid-smelling phosphorescent liquid the army uses to disperse crowds. Several Palestinian teenagers threw rocks and kic...
The residents of Nabi Saleh have long protested against the occupation, against the settlements, and against the seizure of their spring. The village held regular protests for several years, until early 2017. Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, the residents of Nabi Saleh resumed their protes...
Shortly after Mohammed was shot, his cousin, Ahed Tamimi, was filmed attempting to push soldiers off the porch of her family’s house. The video quickly went viral in Israel and around the world. Several days later, the army arrested Ahed. Ahed Tamimi has been in Israeli military prison for nearly a month, along with he...
Since her arrest, Ahed has become an international symbol of the Palestinian struggle against the Israeli military regime, the settlements, and the detention of Palestinian children and members of the popular resistance committees.
As pressure mounts on the Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA) to call off its five days strike, the Federal Government yesterday said it has met its side of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in all agreements it reached with the association, stressing that there was no need for the doctors to continue with the stri...
However, the striking Doctors said though there were meeting where some agreements were reached and points noted, they were not yet sure when the strike would be called off as they had to present the report of the meeting to their emergency delegate meeting which has the power to take the decision.
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu told journalists in Abuja Friday, that the continuation of the strike contradicted agreements already met in view of the 24 demands put up by the NMA.
Chukwu told journalist that "you will recall that a few weeks ago, NMA served notice of a nationwide strike to commence on the 1st of July, 2014 on the basis of what it termed a 24-Point Demand. On receipt of this notice the Federal Government held a meeting with the association on 25th June, 2014.
At the end of the meeting chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, with the Honourable Minister of Labour and Productivity, the Honourable Minister of State for Health, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Chairman of the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, the Permanent...
The Minister further explained that, "Almost all the issues in contention were either issues that had been satisfactorily resolved or issues that could be treated merely through administrative mechanism. The signed MoU was to have apprehended the nationwide strike that was threatened by the association. However, the Ni...
The European Commission is playing the role of a “big cheerleader” for Next Generation Networks (NGNs), delaying their deployment while proposing cuts in mobile termination rates that are likely to severely affect the telecoms sector, Michael Bartholomew, director of the association which brings together the main Europ...
With the EU institutions possibly entering the possible final phase of lengthy negotiations to review the rules governing the European telecoms sector, the main operators are pushing for specific measures aimed at favouring investment in optical fibre networks – so-called NGNs – which are set to allow super-fast Intern...
“We are not asking for funding, but simply for rules that give regulatory certainty in which NGNs can thrive,” Bartholomew told EURACTIV, urging negotiators to reach agreement on the issue, or otherwise “put off the discussions to a new Commission and a new Parliament”.
The European Parliament is set to vote upon the reviewed telecoms package in April, with the Council expected to adopt the new rules in a meeting of national telecoms ministers in June at the end of the current Czech EU Presidency. Negotiations among the three institutions involved (the Parliament, the Council and the ...
On NGNs, the Parliament included a range of amendments aimed at clarifying the regulatory framework to spur investment in fibre (EURACTIV 25/09/08). The vote pleased the main telecoms operators, represented by ETNO, but failed to attract similar support from new-entrant operators, such as Tiscali or Tele2. The Council ...
The Commission has so far adopted a prudent approach toward NGNs, instead prioritising the achievement of full Internet coverage across Europe. Many households, especially in rural areas, still do not have basic Web connections. Detailed provisions on how to favour investment in NGNs were thus missing in the original B...
To trigger fibre investment, the Commission is looking at finding new resources. Among the latest ideas circulated, Brussels is linking the announced cut in mobile termination rates (a key source of revenue for big telecoms companies) to new investment in NGNs (EURACTIV 04/02/09). But Bartholomew dismissed that idea as...
To read the interview in full, please click here.
Gov. George E. Pataki vetoed a bill yesterday that sought to give New York City's public hospital system $100 million to help pay for its swelling ranks of uninsured patients.
The veto of the bill, which was approved unanimously by the State Legislature in June, was a huge blow to the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation, which is struggling to come up with a plan to pay for treating uninsured patients.
In his veto message, Governor Pataki said that while he was ''sensitive to the corporation's mission to provide indigent care and the financial demands the corporation experiences as a result of that mission,'' he nonetheless killed the bill, which would have added to the existing $470 million the corporation receives ...
The bill would not have required additional state financing. Instead, it would have lifted a cap legislators had imposed on the Health and Hospitals Corporation, which prevented it from applying for its full share of Federal Medicaid money for hospitals that treat very sick and uninsured people. The bill could have tra...
Yet Governor Pataki said he feared that the bill would break the budget already set aside by the Federal Government. He said he was also concerned that it could endanger the state's ability to transform its Medicaid program into one in which recipients are required to enroll in managed care, a plan that must pass muste...
The bill's sponsors and H.H.C. officials questioned the Governor's logic, noting that the bill had numerous provisions to assure that it would get Federal approval.
The corporation is in desperate need of fresh money to cover the uninsured. The number of its patients who do not have insurance has risen by 39 percent since 1995, and is expected to grow more this year due to a variety of factors, including welfare reform legislation that decreased Medicaid coverage for many people a...
Further complicating the corporation's fiscal problems are decreased revenues from Medicaid as more recipients move to managed care. As a rule, managed care programs have lower reimbursement rates than the traditional fee-for-service Medicaid programs. Further, under managed care, Medicaid recipients have more choices ...
How to pay for the uninsured will almost certainly be an important legislative issue next year, and the corporation and its allies will most likely be back with new proposals.
Ask Umbra: How can I green up my back-to-school shopping?
Q. Well, it’s that time of the year again: back-to-school season. I’ve been trying to figure out how to reduce my impact when shopping for school supplies and during the overall year. What are some ways I can green up this school year?
Nooo! Say it isn’t so! I’m nowhere near done consuming my yearly berry quota, and I’ve barely made a dent in my pile of beach reads (I’m particularly looking forward to The Economics of Climate Change). I can certainly help you plan ahead for school, when the time comes, but I just can’t admit that it might be right ar...
You don’t specify whether your kids would benefit more from advice about beeswax crayons or refurbished laptops, so I’ll keep this as age-neutral as possible. In fact, you may even be the student yourself, Jason – if so, extra credit for your green enthusiasm!
Back-to-school season is like any other occasion that comes with advertiser-fueled pressure to buy, buy, buy: Though it’s easy to get swept up in the “need” for brand-new backpacks and calculators (or toys or electronics or mattresses), our best first move is to step back and take stock. What do you really need this ye...
On a related note: This is one scenario in which buying in bulk isn’t necessarily the way to go. Not even the budding Hemingways out there need the services of 50 pens to pass sophomore English.
Now that you’ve drawn a line between the needs and wants, go ahead and stock up for school. Just do it thoughtfully: Look for items that are reusable, recycled, recyclable, and less toxic. When shopping for notebooks and paper, keep an eye out for the following: a high degree of post-consumer recycled content, Forest S...
Now, let’s take a moment to talk vinyl. That dastardly substance, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), rears its ugly head in the school-supplies aisle, too, most commonly in the form of binders and those shiny, flexible plastic backpacks. I’ve spilled buckets of digital ink on PVC, so suffice it to say here that we should steer ...
Speaking of fabrics: Despite what the youth-clothing manufacturing empire would have you believe, your children do not need an entirely new wardrobe every September (if your teen begs to differ, head over here). When you do freshen up their closets, please do consider new-to-you secondhand duds. Or here’s a fun idea: O...
And then there’s lunchtime. This segment of the market is awash with single-serving, disposable everything, from individually wrapped cookies to juice boxes to mini bags of pretzels. It may be convenient, but one need only peek into a grade-school lunchroom to see the piles of waste they create. For an A+ lunch, think ...
Beyond all this shopping, how are your kids (or you) getting to school, Jason? Can this be accomplished via walking, biking, scooting, school bus, public bus, train, or anything other than a car? Carpooling is a good second choice; still better would be a neighborhood bikepool, in which parents rotate the job of escort...
And finally, if you are a student: Why not join – or start – the school earth club? These groups do wonderful things like start school gardens, plan environmental fairs, and clean up the community. I’m sure you have loads of time to get that organized. While you do, I’ll be over here watching Endless Summer and studiou...
SAS wants to supercharge your business analysis, through new software that automatically builds multiple models of data and picks those that best predict future events.
"If you take too long coming up with a model, you lose a lot of value," said Sascha Schubert, SAS technology marketing director, speaking of today's competitive environment. "You want to be efficient in your analytics."
With a customer base of over 75,000 organizations, SAS has long been known for its advanced statistical analysis software. With this new offering, called SAS Factory Miner, the company is trying to go one step further to help its customers, by generating models for their data.
Traditionally, business analysts construct data models by hand, choosing from a data table, or multiple tables, the variables to examine closely, and trying to understand how they work together to produce a desired outcome.
With so much data today, however, it can be difficult to pinpoint the specific factors that are key indicators. Were sales last weekend good because of some discount pricing, or because people had more time to shop during the weekend, or some other, hidden factor?
As its name indicates, SAS Factory Miner automates this process of building and testing models, which could lead to better models that are generated more quickly than what could have been done by hand. It could also help alleviate the need for an organization to hire more data scientists, who are much in demand.
SAS Factory Miner can use any source of data, as long as the data itself can be formatted into a table. The software, run from a server and accessed with a browser, offers a graphical point-and-click interface. It comes with a set of customizable templates for creating baseline models. Analysts can fine tune or revise ...
To help pick the best models, the software uses a number of machine learning algorithms that, through repeated testing of the models, can recognize patterns to anticipate future performance. One unnamed customer used an early version of the software to build 35,000 different models in order to find the best approach fo...
This approach also helps enable what Schubert called stratified modeling, in which large sets of data, such as sales, can be divided into smaller segments. Stratified modeling can offer more accurate results, though its use has been limited by the time it takes to build the models, Schubert said.
A financial institution could build different models for different sets of potential users, based on spending ability, buying behavior, or other factors. These models could then be used to generate more appealing credit card offers.
The technology can be used in multiple ways by business, especially in the field of marketing, Schubert said. It could be key to reducing customer churn, predicting future demand, personalizing offers, and managing risk.
For instance, a manufacturer could use the software to build more accurate predictions for when equipment will fail. A firm in a fiercely competitive field could build models for each of its competitors, and then run them in unison to get a full view of the industry.
SAS Factory Miner will be generally available around the middle of July. The company did not provide pricing, noting the price varies by the size of the installation, and the work it will do.
New research from Duke University has found that about one-quarter of adults whose marijuana use is problematic in early adulthood had anxiety disorders in childhood and late adolescence.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, also shed light on an estimated four percent of adults who endured childhood maltreatment and peer bullying without resorting to chronic marijuana abuse, only to develop problems with the drug between the ages of 26 and 3...
“Given that more states may be moving towards legalization of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes, this study raises attention about what we anticipate will be the fastest growing demographic of users — adults,” said lead author Sherika Hill, Ph.D., an adjunct faculty associate at the Duke University Schoo...
The findings are based on data from 1,229 participants in the Great Smoky Mountains Study, a long-term study of residents in 11 counties near the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina, where Hispanics and Latinos are underrepresented and Native Americans are overrepresented compared to the rest of the U.S.

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