Nigeria will issue a sovereign Sukuk on its domestic market for up to 250 billion naira ($610 million) this year to finance road projects, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said.
The DMO issued a maiden 100 billion naira Sukuk four years ago to support road projects and deepen the local debt market. It has raised a total of 362.58 billion naira through the Islamic bond market.
President Muhammadu Buhari has made upgrading transport networks and investing in outdated power grids the pillar of his administration, with a view to boosting agriculture and other non-oil industries to cut dependence on dwindling crude revenues. But funding has been a major constraint.
Nigeria has been borrowing from both the local and international debt markets, and debt service is rising. —Reuters News
