Budget deficit has risen to N20.64tn under the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), according to analysed data from the budget office.
According to the reports form budget office, more than N7.97tn was borrowed from foreign and domestic sources to fund these deficits.
The data covered periods from 2016 to 2020.
The budget office said the Federal Government generated a revenue of N3.42tn to fund the budget in 2020.
It said total government spending for the year was N10.02tn, 0.43 per cent above the N9.97tn budgeted.
In 2019, the Federal Government generated a total of N4.12tn to fund the budget. For the year, total expenditure was N8.29tn, a decrease of N618.14bn (6.93 per cent) from the annual projection.
For the year, total spending was N7.51tn, a decrease of N1.61tn from the budget. This meant a budget deficit of N3.65tn (2.85 per cent of the 2018 GDP), which was financed to the tune of N2.50tn through foreign borrowing of N1.17tn and domestic borrowing of N1.34tn.
The budget office said the implementation of the 2017 budget was affected by poor revenue outturn as oil production and exports remained below the budget estimates while the performance of the economy continued to impact negatively on non-oil revenue.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, disclosed that the Federal Government was going to borrow to fund its N6.25tn deficit in the proposed 2022 budget.
“If we just depend on the revenues that we get, even though our revenues have increased, the operational expenditure of the government, including salaries and other overheads, is barely covered or swallowed up by the revenue.
“So, we need to borrow to be able to build these projects that will ensure that we’re able to develop on a sustainable basis.
“Nigeria’s borrowing has been of great concern and has elicited a lot of discussions. But if you look at the total size of the borrowing, it is still within healthy and sustainable limits. As of July 2021, the total borrowing is 23 per cent of GDP.” she said.
Hence, the words of his minister, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), while presenting the 2022 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly, said his government planned to borrow as much as N5tn from local and foreign sources to cover the budget deficit for 2022.
“We plan to finance the deficit mainly by new borrowings totalling N5.01tn; N90.73bn from privatisation proceeds and N1.16tn drawdowns on loans secured for specific development projects.” he said
ALSO READ
