TheCable

Nigeria dropped five places to be ranked 158 in a new report released by KPMG, audit and financial advisory firm.

The report, which is titled Growth Promise 2018, ranked countries based on macroeconomic stability, institutional strength, openness and human capital.

Nigeria ranked 158 of the 181 countries. Mauritius, Botswana and Rwanda were the highest ranked African countries in the report.

Nigeria got a score of 7.45 on macroeconomic stability, which considers government debt and government stability.

This was the third highest score obtained by an African country on the chart.

The federal government has been using a number of debt instruments to raise funds for the deficit of the 2017 budget. These include the FGN Savings bond, Sukuk and treasury bills.

Data released by the Debt Management Office in 2017 showed that the country’s debt profile has increased to N20 trillion as of September 30 of that year.

The 2018 budget, which is yet to be passed by the national assembly, has a projected deficit of N2.005 trillion.

Nigeria had a score of 1.27 on human development, which considers education and life expectancy. In the openness category, which considers total trade and foreign direct investment, Nigeria was rated 0.29.

For infrastructure which considers financial services; transport and technology, Nigeria got 2.24.

Nigeria also had 3.64 in the quality of institutions, which considers regulatory quality; judicial independence; government effectiveness; corruption; business rights and transparency of government policymaking.