The regime of President Muhammadu Buhari has said its constant borrowing of loans is still within healthy limits amid fresh plans to borrow in a bid to finance the N6.258 trillion deficit in the proposed 2022 budget and insisting it would keep borrowing as it is in the interest of Nigerians.
This statement was made by the Honourable Minister for Finance, Zainab Ahmed during a press conference after the recent 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.”
While speaking further, the Minister said: “if we just depend on the revenues that we get, even though our revenues have increased.”
The operational cost of the government, including salaries and other overheads, “is barely covered or swallowed up by the revenue.”
Her comments came at a time when Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved N16.39 trillion for next year’s Appropriation.
She admitted that the borrowings have generated a lot of controversies but insisted that the President’s appetite for borrowing is healthy.
The Minister also argued that Nigeria’s borrowing was the lowest if compared to that of other countries.
She said: “As of July 2021, the total borrowing is 23 per cent 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 the council that our revenues from non-oil have performed, as of July, at the rate of 111 per cent, which means outperforming the prorated budget.”
