President Muhammadu Buhari, has written to the Senate to approve a new external loan of N2,343,387,942,848.00 (about $6.183billion) for the Federal Government to finance the 2021 budget deficit.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday read Buhari’s letter of request on the floor of the Senate during plenary.
Nigeria’s public debt is projected to increase to 34% of GDP in 2020 from 29% in 2019 and will rise to about 36.4% in the medium term, according to the International Monetary Fund, IMF’s latest report on the country.
Interest payments as a proportion of revenues for the national government, estimated at 92.6% in 2020, is projected to decline to 60.8% this year, before rising to 94.1% of revenue by 2025, according to the IMF.
Recall that Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki had raised an alarm over the country’s rising debt profile, saying the situation is more critical now because of the huge amount borrowed to service the ailing economy.
“We say remove subsidy, they say no. This April, next week again, we will go to Abuja and share. By the end of this year, the total borrowing is going to be in excess of ?15 to ?16 trillion.
“My worry is that we will wake up one day like Argentina, the naira will be ?1,000, ?2,000 and will be moving because we don’t have money coming in. You are just borrowing, borrowing and borrowing without any means or idea of how to pay back,” he added.
