NIGER FAILS TO MEET DEBT PAYMENT AGAIN AS POST-COUP WOES PILE

Members of a military council that staged a coup in Niger attend a rally at a stadium in Niamey, Niger, August 6, 2023.

Mon 19 February 2024:

The West African debt management agency announced on Monday that Niger failed to make a debt payment of 13.4 billion CFA francs ($22 million) last week, raising the total amount of defaulted debt to approximately $519 million since a coup in July and its suspension from regional financial markets.

Niger failed to pay back the principle that was due on February 16th, according to a statement from UMOA-Titres, the debt management organization for the West African Monetary Union. Prior to this, payments were past due in August, November, January, and February.

According to UMOA-Titres, this happened while Niger was under sanctions from the West African Economic and Monetary Union, or UEMOA in French, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

“This situation is carefully monitored by UMOA-Titres in collaboration with the institutions concerned,” the agency said in a statement on Monday.

The sanctions were imposed after the July 30 coup by members of the Nigerien presidential guard, that overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum.

Other countries, including the United States, that had provided aid for health, security and infrastructure needs, also suspended their support.

Until the coup, aid accounted for almost half of Niger’s annual budget. Niger’s neighbours also closed their borders to the country, and more than 70 percent of its electricity, supplied by Nigeria, was cut off. Financial transactions with West African countries were suspended. Niger’s assets in external banks were frozen, and hundreds of millions of dollars in aid were withheld.

In July, a planned 30 billion CFA franc ($51m) bond issuance by Niger was cancelled by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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