Philippine E-Journals

Nigeria’s Debt Overhang (1960-2005): A Critical Revisit

Solomon A. Adebola

Discipline: Economics

 

Abstract:

A general global trend up to the 1980's has been for nations to rely substantially on external loans and aids for economic sustenance and technological development. This is particularly true for less developed countries (LDC). Unfortunately for these LDCs, their debts have gone beyond the countries' capacity to repay. The debts have, for many such developing countries, been on a perpetual geometrical increase. Such countries have ended up with a debt overhang, with its detrimental impacts on the countries' economic growth and social development. This research note gives a treatise on the theoretical framework of a debt overhang, and a critical review of the challenges, implications, and impacts of a debt overhang on a nation's development and economic growth.