The Honorable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Ms Zainab Ahmed, has stated that Nigeria’s total public debt may reach N38.68 trillion by December, 2021 subject to existing loan approvals.
This was revealed by the honourable minister, yesterday at the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts. This has however raised the concern of Nigerians amidst the backlogged debt in the country.
The honourable minister, stated that Nigeria has a total debt of N31.01 trillion ($85.90 billion) as of June 30. According to her this debt comprise home debts, external debts, state government debts and that of Federal Capital Territory.
Nothwithstanding, Nigeria is about to meet up with the 2021 budget deficit and in so doing intends to borrow N4.28 trillion which is one-third of the proposed budget.
This is evident in the 2021 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari which revealed N13.08 trillion expenditure proposed for the next fiscal year. According to her the country debt, is expected to rise to N32.51tn by December 31, 2020 and N38.68tn by December 31, 2021.
In her words, Appropriation Bill for 2021has a provision of N3.12 trillion for Debt Service, Domestic Debt Service has a provision of N2.18 billion and External Debt Service has a provision of N940.89 billion.
She however identified poor funding as the cause of abandoned road projects across the country. While stating her stan on road projects, she said that, “one major road in one of the six geopolitical zones should be focused on and completed before fixing another”.
According to the minister, this has been impossible because of the processes in which appropriation is made both at the executive as well as the legislative arms of government.
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