NIGERIA, FRANCE TO RESCHEDULE OFFICIAL DEBT
Nigeria and France have signed a
bilateral agreement to reschedule Nigeria's
official debt to France, government sources said.
    The accord was signed here yesterday by Nigerian Finance
Minister Chu Okongwu and senior French Treasury officials after
talks with CoFACE, the French export credit agency, they said.
    The agreement came after a similar agreement with Britain
this week and follows an accord between Nigeria and the Paris
Club of western creditor governments in December to reschedule
some 7.5 billion dlrs of official debt.
    The Paris Club multilateral agreement concerned medium and
long-term debt due between September 1986 and end-1987 over 10
years with five years grace.
    As with all Paris Club rescheduling accords, specific
interest rates and other details have to be negotiated on a
bilateral basis with the creditor countries involved. No
details of the discussions here were immediately available.
    The agreement signed on Tuesday with Britain's Export
Credits Guarantee Department was the first in Nigeria's tour of
creditor nations. Okongwu left Paris today for London and is
due back in Nigeria on Monday, diplomatic sources said.
    Nigeria is hoping that further bilateral accords can be
concluded soon as this could encourage official export credit
agencies to renew insurance cover for exports to Nigeria.
    CoFACE suspended its cover for medium and long-term export
contracts with Nigeria in 1983, but maintained its cover for
current trade deals involving consumer goods with six-month
credit periods, CoFACE sources said.
    "We have an open position regarding Nigeria," the sources
said, adding that it was for French Finance Minister Edouard
Balladur to decide whether to renew full insurance cover.
    Nigeria is due to receive 900 mln dlrs in fresh export
credits this year from official agencies under a structural
adjustment program drawn up by Nigeria and the World Bank to
reschedule part of the country's 19 billion dlr foreign debt.
    But these credits cannot be approved until the export
credit agencies agree to resume insuring the credits.
    French exports to Nigeria were 3.42 billion francs in 1986,
down from 4.94 billion in 1985, while Nigeria's exports to
France were 5.63 billion francs in 1986, down from 15.33
billion in 1985. Details of Nigeria's official debts to France
were not immediately available.
 REUTER
