Amidst Unprecedented Debt Profile, Buhari Seeks Fresh N819bn Loan

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, wrote the National Assembly for approval to borrow fresh N819.5bn from supplementary budget for the 2022 fiscal year.

Mr Buhari said the loan  will be used to fix various infrastructures destroyed by floods across the various states in the country a few months ago.

In the letter written to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, President Buhari said the N819.54bn supplementary budget will be financed through domestic borrowing.

The letter reads: ”The year 2022 has witnessed the worse flood incident in recent history which has caused massive destruction of farm lands at a point already closed to harvest season. This may compound the situation of food security and nutrition in the country. The flood has also devastated road infrastructure in across the 36 states and the FCT as well as bridges nationwide that are critical for movement of goods and services.

The water sector was equally affected by the flood and there is a need to complete some ongoing critical projects that have already achieved about 85 per cent completion. The nine critical projects proposed in the sector cuts across water supply, dam projects and irrigation projects nationwide.

I have approved a supplementary budget of 2022 appropriation of N819.536 billion , all of which are capital expenditure. The supplementary will be financed through additional domestic borrowings which will raise the budget deficit for 2022 to N8.17 .trillion and deficit to GDP ratio to 4.43 per cent.”

Being a proposal meant for a year remaining 10 days to end, the Senate President hurriedly forwarded it to Senate Committees on Appropriation , Finance , Works , Water Resources and Agriculture for expeditious consideration.