President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has requested the National Assembly’s approval to acquire $2.3 billion in exterior loans to assist finance Nigeria’s 2025 finances deficit, refinance maturing money owed, and maintain ongoing fiscal reforms.
In a letter transmitted to the House of Representatives, the President defined that the proposed borrowing will probably be raised via Eurobonds, syndicated loans, bridge financing, or services from multilateral and bilateral companions.
The transfer, he stated, is a part of the federal authorities’s technique to stabilise public funds, strengthen overseas reserves, and handle debt obligations effectively.
Tinubu additionally sought approval to situation a $500 million sovereign Sukuk, marking one other step within the authorities’s effort to deepen the home capital market and appeal to Islamic finance traders.
The President’s newest request falls throughout the exterior borrowing framework already permitted by the Senate, which incorporates $1.84 billion within the 2025 Appropriation Act.
The administration hopes to make use of a part of the brand new facility to refinance a $1.118 billion Eurobond maturing in November 2025, thereby avoiding reimbursement pressures that might destabilise the economic system.
However, the proposed mortgage has sparked renewed debate over Nigeria’s rising exterior debt, at the moment exceeding $42 billion.
Economic analysts warn that elevated borrowing might worsen the debt-service-to-revenue ratio, already among the many highest in Africa.
Yet authorities officers keep that the borrowing plan stays inside sustainable limits and is important to fund key infrastructure initiatives, stimulate development, and shield important public companies amid dwindling income.
The request comes because the Tinubu administration intensifies efforts to revive investor confidence via reforms in power pricing, exchange-rate unification, and monetary self-discipline.
The National Assembly is anticipated to deliberate on the borrowing plan within the coming weeks, a call that might form Nigeria’s fiscal course in 2025.
