President Bola Tinubu has requested the Senate to approve a ₦1.15 trillion loan to fund the 2025 budget.
The President wants to access the facility from the domestic market, according to a letter the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, read to senators on the floor in Abuja on Tuesday.
Tinubu explained that the proposed borrowing would be used to cover the deficit in the N54.99trillion budget.
He wrote, “I write to kindly request for the approval of the National Assembly to establish a N1,150,000,000.00 borrowing program in the domestic debt market to close the unfunded deficit gap created by the increase in the budget size over and above the prior approved revenue and borrowing plans.
“This request is pursuant to the provisions of Section 44, Subsection 1 to 2 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, FRA, of 2007, which requires the approval of the National Assembly for all new borrowings by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The distinguished President of the Senate may wish to note that the National Assembly passed a budget of N54.9 trillion, an increase of N5.25 trillion from the N49.74 trillion budget proposal by the Executive.
“This increase created a budget deficit of N14 trillion.
“However, the proposed borrowing approved in the budget was N12.95 trillion, which occasioned an unfunded deficit of N1.1 trillion.
“It is therefore necessary to increase the domestic borrowing limit in the 2025 budget by N1.147 trillion to close this gap.
“Based on the foregoing, I wish to request for the approval of the Senate for the establishment of a N1,150,000,000 Naira borrowing program in the domestic debt market to close the unfunded 2025 budget deficit gap.
“A specimen of the approval required for this purpose is attached as an extra tool.”
Akpabio referred the request to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt for more work.
The committee is chaired by Senator Aliyu Wammako (APC, Sokoto North)
Just last week, the National Assembly approved another presidential borrowing of $2.3 billion.