It has been reported that the Senate on Wednesday, justified President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to obtain $4.054bn and €710m ($$839m) loans.
This was reportedly disclosed by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, in an interview in Abuja, adding that there was no country that does not engage in deficit financing.
This is coming after the Director General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha, was giving a breakdown of the public debt stock for the second quarter of 2021, during a virtual media presentation on Wednesday, said Nigeria’s total public debt stock rose from N33.11tn as of March 31, 2021 to N35.47tn as of June 30, 2021.
It was earlier reported that the President had on Tuesday submitted to the National Assembly, a request for approval to obtain fresh external loans of $4.054bn and €710m (($$839m).
In addition, President Buhari is also seeking the federal legislature’s approval for grant components of $125m in the 2018-2020 external rolling borrowing plan.
Reacting to this, Senator Basiru said that, “What Nigerians should be looking at is the benefit and the advantage the society would have when the loans are taken and effectively utilised.”
He stated that, “There is no country that does not engage in deficit financing. We are still within the approved limit guaranteed by law.”
He disclosed that, “The borrowing is for the development of the country and they are tied to specific projects. It is part of the borrowing plans of the government which had already been approved in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.”
He added that, “The latest request is not a fresh loan, but an addendum to the earlier one which we have approved and it is still within the framework of the external borrowing plan of the government.”
Basiru made it known that, “It is important to galvanise the economy and invest in critical infrastructure that will put us in a better position to prepare our country for the future. What we should concern ourselves with is to look at the projects that the loans are attached to and the social economic benefits of those projects.”
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