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Nigeria’s house of representatives has approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s request to borrow an extra $2.2 billion in temporary advances from the country’s central bank to help plug gaps in last year’s budget, lawmakers said.
This is expected to push total borrowings from the apex bank above N3 trillion which Federal Government (FGN) plans to securitise amidst 2023 election uncertainties.
Recall that Buhari asked the house in December 2022 for approval to borrow an extra N1 trillion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ‘ways and means’ advances from the central bank, taking the government’s total borrowing to N23.7 trillion or $52 billion.
The president also requested approvals to convert the temporary advance into 40-year bonds at 9% interest to cut interest payments but lawmakers questioned the plan. The lawmakers said on Tuesday (January 31, 2023) that they would discuss with officials on the plan to turn the central bank borrowings to the government into long-term debt.
Meanwhile, President Buhari has said the country will pay N1.8 trillion or $4 billion in extra interest in 2023 if parliament rejects the loan-to-bond swap.
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