The World Bank says Nigeria could have saved about $342.1m from January to December 2021 through the debt service suspension initiative. It disclosed this in a brief on Debt Service Suspension Initiative updated this month by the bank on its website. Under the DSSI, official creditors commit to suspending payments of all principal and interest within a stipulated period of time. The World Bank, in its brief, provided an estimate of what different countries, including Nigeria, could save if creditors suspended payments on all principal and interests within a period of 12 months. However, Nigeria, although eligible, opted out of this initiative, which could have led to saving 0.1 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product, according to the brief. Despite being one of the largest World Bank borrowers, Nigeria is not covered by the Joint Bank-Fund Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries. In a separate document published in April last year by the World Bank – the Debt Report 2021 Edition II – the bank provided a justification for countries that were not yet beneficiaries of the DSSI. The report said that although some countries were eligible for the DSSI, they had chosen not to participate for a number of reasons.

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