The Senate has approved the request of President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow N2,343,387,942,848, to part-finance the 2021 federal budget size of N13 trillion.
The External Borrowing of the money, according to the panel, should be for the financing of part of the deficit authorised in the 2021 Appropriation Act.
The approval of the loan followed the presentation made by the senator representing Edo central, who is the Chairman of the Committee on Local and Foreign Loans, Clifford Ordia.
While presenting the report, Ordia said the request is not new as it was approved in the borrowing plan when the national assembly passed the 2021 budget.
According to the presentation, the committee recommended that the Senate approves Buhari’s request for the issuance of $3,000,000,000 but not more than $6,183,081,643.40 Eurobond in the International Capital Market.
It also recommended that the Senate directs the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Director General of the Debt Management Office and the Governor the Central Bank of Nigeria to submit to the National Assembly within 10 working days (excluding the day of close of trading) a letter containing the United State Dollars amount so raised and received as a result of the above approval together with the applicable exchange rate.
The Committee also recommended that the Senate should approve that the amount authorised may be raised from multiple sources such as the International Capital Market and any other Multilateral or Bilateral sources as may be available.
After the request was approved, Senate President Ahmad Lawan said the national assembly must make sure that there are no frivolous expenditures by the executive.
