(Bloomberg) -- 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.”
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ushered a series of economic reforms after taking power in May last year, including liberalizing the nation’s exchange rate. Since then, he’s been trying to attract foreign investment to help support the naira, which lost more than 70% of its value since June 2023.
“We need to attract the savings of Nigerians that keep their money abroad,” he said.
The reforms being implemented by the government are starting to bear fruit, Edun said, citing the more stable exchange rate, its narrowing budget deficit and a positive trade balance. The budget shortfall is currently estimated at 4.4% of gross domestic product, compared with 6.1% in 2023, he said.
--With assistance from Anthony Osae-Brown.
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