ERHC Energy Inc (ERHE)

[RubyMartin]

Sao Tome asks Nigeria for extension of loan repayment timetable [ 2006-09-18 ]


Sao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe, 18 Sept – Sao Tome and Principe has asked Nigeria to extend the repayment schedule for a US$ 15 million debt due to financial difficulties in the archipelago, a senior official has announced.

Natural Resources Minister Manuel Deus Lima said Saturday after a meeting of the Sao Tome-Abuja joint ministerial council for oil exploration that the request to Nigeria had been made due to his country’s pledges to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank aimed to get relief of the islands’ estimated foreign debts of over US$ 300 million.

Sao Tome’s debt to Nigeria was originally due to have been repaid in 2006 after the carve up of revenues from production sharing contracts for three offshore oil blocs, worth US$ 201 million, signed last March for the two countries’ overlap petroleum exploration zone in the Gulf of Guinea.

Sao Tome’s natural resources minister said his country would be able to pay its debt to Nigeria in 2007, noting “the sensitivity shown by Abuja”, and adding the issue will be formally concluded in two weeks’ time at a follow-up meeting in the Nigerian capital.

Sao Tome’s debt to Nigeria was run up by successive governments in the islands to fund a number of social development projects. (macauhub)