Nigeria’s debt profile is set to rise further as the Federal Government is set to borrow more money to finance the proposed 2022 budget deficit pegged at N6.258 trillion.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this on Wednesday during a press conference after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
Mrs. Ahmed, who noted that this will aid the funding of the Federal Government’s infrastructure projects, said:
“Government has been borrowing before this administration and continues to borrow and it is important that we borrow to provide developmental projects in the form of roads, rails, bridges, power and water for sustainable development in this country.
“If we just depend on the revenues that we get, even though our revenues have increased, the operational expenditure of government, including salaries and other overheads, is barely covered or swallowed up by the revenue.”
Defending the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government policy on borrowings, she said that the total size of the borrowing is still within healthy and sustainable limits.
Her word: “Nigeria’s borrowing, has been of great concern and has elicited a lot of discussions. But if you look at the total size of the borrowing, it is still within healthy and sustainable limits.
“As of July 2021, the total borrowing is 23% of GDP. When you compare our borrowing to other countries, we’re the lowest within the region, lowest compared to Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, the very lowest, and Angola.
“We do have a problem with revenue. Our revenues have been increasing. We just reported to Council that our revenues from non-oil have performed, as of July, at the rate of 111%, which means outperforming the prorated budget.”
This is coming as the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the 2022 Appropriation Bill for an aggregate expenditure of N16.39 trillion.