Niger defaults on debt payments again as post-coup woes pile
Al Jazeera
The West African state’s total debt default since last July’s coup is now $519m.
Niger missed a debt payment of 13.4 billion CFA francs ($22m) last week, the West African debt management agency said on Monday, bringing the total default to some $519m since a July coup and its suspension from regional financial markets.
The West African monetary union debt management agency UMOA-Titres said in a statement that Niger had failed to make a repayment of principal which was due on February 16. It previously missed payments in August, November, January and February.
UMOA-Titres noted that this occurred in the context of Niger being subject to sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union, also known by its French acronym UEMOA.
“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.
