The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI has called on the Federal Government to stop plans to raise N10.57 trillion loans to finance 2023 Budget deficit.
LCCI President Dr Olawale Cole stated at its 134th Annual General Meeting in Lagos that the chamber is of the view that N10.78 trillion deficit is not wrong but N10.57 new loans to finance the deficit is not good enough.
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This fresh loan is being considered by the Federal Government at a time when Nigeria is already placed on the watchlists of some of her foreign bondholders.
The LCCI President noted that Nigeria’s debt-servicing bill has increased by 1.8 percent from N896.56bn in 2022 Q1 to N912.71bn in Q2 2022 and it spent $597.95m (N247.98bn) on external debt servicing, giving a total of N912.71bn
He is also worried that the borrowings are significantly increasing, and Nigeria is struggling to service these debts due to revenue mobilisation challenges and an increased fuel subsidy burden.
He noted that “the borrowings are significantly increasing, and Nigeria is struggling to service these debts due to revenue mobilisation challenges and an increased fuel subsidy burden.
“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that debt servicing may gulp 100 per cent of the federal government’s revenue by 2026 if the government fails to implement adequate measures to improve revenue generation,” he lamented.
