Nigeria cannot rely on borrowing to fund 2024 budget — Finance Minister

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun says that Nigeria cannot depend on borrowing to finance the 2024 budget.

Edun made this known during his appearance before the joint Senate Committee on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) in Abuja on Thursday.

He emphasised that the most effective way for Nigeria to fund its budget is to invest more in infrastructure to generate more revenue.

“Clearly the environment that we have now, internationally as well as nationally, we are in no position to rely on borrowing.

“We have an existing borrowing profile. Our direction of tariff is to reduce the quantum of borrowing or intercepting deficit financing in the 2024 budget.

“Simply put, internationally there is a focus among rich countries on bringing down the inflation rate to stabilise the economies and give them opportunity for investment growth.

“They are in the process, sacrificing that immediate goal for compacting their economies or at least contracting the money supplies and pushing up the interest rates and of course high interest rates and investments don’t go together,” he said.

Edun added, “What is left for us to access those funds are expensive so it is the last thing that we must rely on.

“As we know we have all the figures and debt servicing and cushioning 98 percent of government revenue.

“The last thing you can think of is to pile up more debts. Government needs to not just maintain its activity, it needs to spend more.

“If you look at government spending, if you look at the budget as a percentage of GDP, ours is one of the lowest being 10 percent, even Ghana is at 25 percent, rich ones they are 50 percent.”

“The very rich countries have to be most advanced in terms of social safety nets and its social security systems at 70 percent of GDP. Government spending definitely will lead to increase in revenues

“The number one source of revenue especially in the short term, even in the medium term is all revenue.”

Sen. Sani Musa, the Chairman of the committee expressed the fears that the revenue projections of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies that had so far appeared before the MTEF-FSP panel, were lower that the Federal Government projections for 2024.