By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The senior unsecured US dollar-denominated notes issued by the Nigerian government have been assigned a B+(EXP) rating by Fitch Ratings.
In a statement dated Tuesday, November 13, 2018, Fitch explained that the assignment of the final ratings was contingent on the receipt of final documents materially conforming to information already reviewed.
The statement noted that the expected rating was in line with Nigeria’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘B+’, which is on Stable Outlook.
Fitch disclosed that the rating was sensitive to any changes in Nigeria’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR.
“Fitch stabilised the Outlooks on Nigeria’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency and Local-Currency IDRs and affirmed the Long-Term IDRs at ‘B+’ on November 2, 2018,” the statement said.
According to Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO), the $2.86 billion Eurobond received a total subscription worth $9.5 billion from international investors.
The Nigerian authorities plan to use proceeds of the exercise to fund part of the 2018 budget signed into law mid-2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
