The President Muhammadu Buhari Federal Government, has on Wednesday, announced plans to finance the proposed N6.258 trillion 2022 budget deficit, through fresh borrowings, .
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this during a Press Conference, after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, in Abuja.
She 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.”
Speaking further, the Minister stated that the move to borrow is necessary, to be able to build projects, and to ensure they are developed on a sustainable basis.
She noted: “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 are 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.”
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