CEM NEWS, LAGOS
President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday formally sought the approval of the National Assembly for a fresh $5.513bn foreign loan.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, read the letter from the President at the beginning of Thursday’s plenary.
In the letter, the president said the fund the fund would be used to finance the 2020 budget deficit as well as for the financing of critical projects, and some states of the federation.
The President also presented a revised 2020 Appropriation Bill and 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
The National Assembly had recently approved a loan of N850bn for the Federal Government, while another of $22.79bn, which the Senate has already approved, is pending before the House.
According to the debt sheet by the Debt Management Office, Nigerian total public debt stands at US$84.053bn. This is excluding the US$3.4bn recently approved by the IMF in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
