The House of Representatives has approved the $6.183 billion External Borrowing request by President Muhammadu Buhari to finance the deficit in the 2021 budget.
The borrowing was already captured in the N13.6 trillion budget as a financing window.
At its plenary in Abuja on Thursday, the House considered and approved the report of the Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, which gave the nod to the presidential request.
The borrowing will be implemented through the issuance of Eurobond in the International
Capital Market.
The recommendations of the committee, presented to the House by its Chairman, Rep. Ahmed Safana Dayyabu, read, “That the House consider and (i) approve the request of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the issuance of $3,000,000,000 (Three Billion USD) but no more than $6,183,081,643.40 billion (Six Billion, One Hundred and Eighty-Three Billion, and Eighty-One Thousand, Six Hundred and Forty-Three USD and Forty Cents) Eurobond in the International Capital Market for the implementation of the new External Borrowing to part-finance the deficit authorized in
the 2021 Appropriation Act; (ii) also approve that the amount authorized above may be raised from multiple sources such as the International Capital Market and any other Multilateral or Bilateral sources as may be available; (iii) direct the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Director-General of the
Debt Management Office and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to submit to the
National Assembly within 10 (Ten) working days (excluding the day of the close of Trading) a letter containing the United States Dollar amount so raised and received as a result of the above approval together with the applicable Exchange Rate.”
The House, which was presided over by the Speaker, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, also passed the 2021 Supplementary Budget for Third Reading.
Lawmakers passed N982.729bn as the supplementary budget, up from N894.842bn earlier submitted by the Executive.
The Deputy Speaker, Rep. Ahmed Idris Wase, later presided over the Committee on Supplies and the Committee of the Whole after the House suspended its rule in the absence of Gbajabiamila, having excused himself to attend to other official matters.