Nigeria has no plans to issue Eurobonds in 2023 unless market conditions improve as bond prices are too high for African countries, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said on Wednesday.

Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy, has been raising debt to fund infrastructure and boost a fragile economy battling high inflation. It sold a $1.25 billion Eurobonds this year, marking its eighth outing on international debt markets.

Ahmed said Nigeria will focus on concessionary loans from the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, African Development Bank and others for external loans, Ahmed told Reuters in Abuja after a cabinet meeting.

"Our external borrowing sources are very much open at multilateral institutions ... and our focus is on those loans unless we have no option because loan processes are very long," she said.

"The prices of bonds are too high now in most African countries. No one is going near there now. We hope 2023 will bring about some improvement," she said.

At 1400 GMT, Nigeria's 2051 Eurobond US65412JAT07=TE was trading with a yield of 12.096%, according to Tradeweb data, compared with a yield of 8.25% when it was issued last year. The yield on its 2032 bond was 11.98%.

Reuters