Go Ahead With $2.2bn External Borrowing Plan, FEC Tells Tinubu

Nigeria’s president Bola Tinubu can go ahead with his $2.2 billion external borrowing plan to meet Nigeria’s financial needs and support its economic recovery efforts.

This follows the nod of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) following a meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

Grant of the go ahead with the external borrowing plan was announced by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun.

“We just had the Federal Executive Council meeting, and I am privileged to present two memoranda to the Federal Executive Council.

“The first one was to complete the borrowing programme of the Federal Government in terms of external borrowing with the approval of a $2.2 billion financing programme,” Edun said.

” It is made up of access to the international capital market for some combination of the Euro bond offer and the Sukuk bond offer, and perhaps a Euro bond of about $1.7 billion.

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“Sukuk financing of another $500 million the actual makeup of the financing which will be done as soon as the National Assembly has considered and hopefully approve the borrowing plan, “ Edun stated.

“If the external borrowing approval is given, it will be done this year, as soon as possible after approval,” he stated.

The Eagle reports that the latest support of Tinubu’s external borrowing plans is coming amidst Nigeria’s public debt stock which includes external and domestic debt, reaching N121.67 trillion (US$91.46 billion) in Q1 2024 from N97.34 trillion (US$ 108.23 billion) in Q4 2023, going by figures released by the National Bureau of Statics (NBS)

This was an indication of a growth rate of 24.99% on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Total external debt stood at N56.02 trillion (US$42.12 billion) in Q1 2024, while total domestic debt was N65.65 trillion (US$49.35billion).

On the other hand, the share of external debt (in naira value) to total public debt was 46.05% in Q1 2024, while the share of domestic debt (in naira value) to total public debt was 53.95%.

Lagos state recorded the highest domestic debt in Q1 2024 with N929.41 billion, followed by Delta with N334.90 billion.

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Jigawa state recorded the lowest domestic debt with N2.07 billion, followed by Ondo with N16.40 billion, the report stated.

Nigerians have variously expressed concern over increasing debt stock against the backdrop of increased suffering wondering why there should be such misery in a country so blessed.