FG To Borrow N5.36trn To Finance 2020 Budget

Nigeria expects to borrow to finance a 5.36 trillion naira budget deficit for 2020 in addition to using proceeds from privatisations, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said on Wednesday.
Ahmed noted that the Federal Government approved a revised budget of 10.52 trillion naira on Wednesday, slightly down from 10.59 trillion approved earlier, factoring in expenditures related to COVID-19 previously not included.
Nigeria’s economy, which relies on crude oil sales for 90% of foreign exchange earnings, has been rocked by low oil prices following a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, as well as the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Ahmed told reporters the revised budget for Africa’s biggest oil exporter approved at Wednesday’s ministerial meeting assumed a crude oil price of $25 per barrel along with output of 1.94 million barrels per day and an exchange rate of 360 naira to $1.
With global oil prices plummeting, Ahmed said in March that this year’s record 10.59 trillion naira ($29.42 billion) budget would be cut by about 15%. But on Wednesday, she announced a reduction of just 71.5 billion naira.
The minister said the deficit would be part-financed with borrowing from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank and Afrexim Bank.
The proposed changes require the approval of lawmakers in the National Assembly before being signed into law by the president.