Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

We are Looking for Loans to Finance 2016 Budget – Udoma

Nigeria is still in talks to obtain foreign loans to help fund a record $31 billion budget for this year, aimed at helping Africa’s biggest economy cope with a slump in oil prices, its budget minister said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 6.06 trillion naira ($30.6 billion) budget last week, but the government has not yet made clear how it plans to fund a deficit of 2.2 trillion naira.

“We hope to access loans on concessionary rates, we are working hard to secure external funding,” Budget Minister Udoma Udo Udoma said in a speech, without elaborating.

He reiterated previous estimates for external and domestic borrowing needs totalling 1.8 trillion naira.

Nigeria has applied for a $1 billion loan from both the World Bank and African Development Bank while also considering selling Chinese Panda or Euro bonds, though no details have been made public.

Growth last year fell to its slowest rate since 1999 at 2.8 percent and inflation rose to a near four-year high of 12.8 percent in March while capital imports were down 74 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

Buhari hopes to diversify the economy to end reliance on oil and gas revenues, which make up 70 percent of national income.

Late on Wednesday, with Buhari attending a conference in London, the government announced it was scrapping a costly fuel subsidy scheme and raising the price of gasoline, which many Nigerians rely on for electricity generation as well as transport, by 67 percent.

 

Read more

 

 

__________

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

 

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

News

Nigerians are still bearing the effects of the policies of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, has said. Some...

News

Muhammadu Buhari, has said that he deliberately refused to release his West African Senior School Certificate (WASC) in 2015 when he took over power...

News

Femi Adesina, former spokesman to former President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that the president’s plane nearly crashed with him and his aides in November...

News

Former President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he was happy when incumbent President Bola Tinubu jetted up the petrol pump price on May 29,...

Copyright ©