FG suspends plans to borrow $22bn foreign loans—Zainab Ahmed

The Federal Government has suspended its plan to borrow $22.7 billion from foreign institutions, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed has said. She said this as she spoke at the 2020 International Conference on the Nigerian Commodities Market organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Abuja. She said the decision to jettison the plan was taken “due to current realities in the global economic landscape” adding that the government would not even be keen to proceed with the borrowing plan even if the National Assembly gives the approval for it to go ahead.

“The current market indices do not support any external borrowings at the moment, despite the fact that parliament is still doing its work on the borrowing plan. One arm of the parliament has completed their work, and the other arm is still working. So, it is a process controlled entirely by the parliament itself. We are waiting,” she said. She said that the government will defer the plan and watch the market till when the timing is right but would in the interim continue to focus its efforts on its plan to diversify the country’s economy.

The Minister said the government would prioritise its expenditure in favour of major capital expenditures that would have greater impact on job creation, visibility as well as enhance the ease of doing business in the country. “The expenditures that are not critical must be deferred to a later date when things become more normal. Several national plans, programmes and projects have been directed at diversifying the production and revenue structures of the economy,” she said.