The Federal Government has disclosed plans to finance the proposed 2022 budget deficit pegged at ₦6.258 trillion through fresh borrowings.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this during a press conference after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, adding that this will aid the funding of the Federal Government’s infrastructure projects.
“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,” she said.
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“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.”
While defending the government’s borrowings, she said the move is necessary to be able to build projects and to ensure they are developed on a sustainable basis.
In spite of persistent agitations in some quarters against the frequent borrowing by the current administration, the Finance Minister insists that the total size of the borrowing is still within healthy and sustainable limits.
“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,” the Minister said in defence of the move.
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