Mr Abraham Nwankwo,Director-General, Debt Management Office, said on Monday in Abuja that Nigeria”s debt: GDP ratio was less than 18 per cent as at the end of last quarter of 2010 Nwankwo made the declaration at the National Debt Sustainability Analysis (NDSA) Meeting.

“For the last quarter of 2010, that is December 2010, the domestic debt was about N4.5 trillion and the external debt was about 4.5 billion dollars. When you combine the two, you are still having a debt GDP ratio of less than 18 per cent; remember that our own self-imposed restriction is that the total should not be more than 25 per cent up to 2015.”

Nwankwo said that the essence of the national debt sustainability meeting with Ministries, Departments and Agencies was to ensure that the conditions of economic development were reviewed. He said that the meeting would look into the various changes that had taken place in the efforts to develop the nation”s economy and the other developments expected to take place in the next couple of years.

This, he said, would enable the Debt Management Office to appreciate how the economic outlook would be and also help it to know how best to advise government on how to maneuver the challenges.

On the perceived discrepancy between rising oil revenues and continuous borrowing by the country, Nwankwo said that there was the need to look at the issues from a comprehensive point of view.

He said: “Government is taking a deliberate and very prudent decision of establishing the Sovereign Wealth Fund and the fund is to be funded partially from the oil revenue. So when you look at it from the long-term perspective, it is not adequate to say that you are earning so much money now, therefore you should not borrow. It means that you are looking at a short-term period. So if you look at it from the long-term period, it will not be adequate to say that you are earning much now, therefore you should not borrow and use the money you are earning. It means you are thinking

short-term.” He noted that the fund had many components that would make provisions for future generations as well as contribute to economic development. Nwankwo added that even if oil prices went up three times the prices they were now, it would not be enough to exploit the natural resource to produce the kind of transformation needed in the country in the next five years to seven years.

“So, it has to be the combination of the both; the important thing is that we should make the most prudent and efficient use of our resources as well as efficient use of borrowed resource,” he said.

Nwankwo noted that government”s new strategy was to reduce borrowing and encourage the private sector to borrow and then provide appropriate support. He said that the private sector would not only develop the real sector of the economy, but would also be involved in infrastructure development.