By Nathaniel Zaccheaus, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday sought the Senate’s approval for a loan of N1.150 trillion from the domestic debt market to close the deficit gap in the N59.9 trillion budget approved for the 2025 fiscal year.
Tinubu, who made the request through a letter forwarded to the Senate and read in plenary by its President, Godswill Akpabio, explained that the deficit arose from an increase of N5.25 trillion added to the N49.74 trillion 2025 budgetary proposal presented to the National Assembly in December last year, which gave room for an unfunded deficit of N1.947 trillion.
The letter reads in part, “I am writing to request the approval of the National Assembly to borrow N1.15 trillion from the domestic debt market to close the unfunded deficit gap created by the increase in the budget size over and above the prior approved revenue and borrowing plans
“This request is pursuant to the provisions of Section 44, Subsection 1 & 2 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, FRA, of 2007, which requires the approval of the National Assembly for all new borrowings by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The distinguished President of the Senate may wish to note that the National Assembly passed a budget of $59.9 trillion, an increase of $5.25 trillion from the N49.74 trillion budget proposal by the Executive.
“This increase created a budget deficit of N14 trillion. However, the proposed borrowing approved in the budget was N12.95 trillion, which caused an unfunded deficit of N1.1 trillion.
“It is therefore necessary to increase the domestic borrowing limit in the 2025 budget by N1.147 trillion to close this gap.
“Based on the foregoing, I wish to request the approval of the Senate for the establishment of a N1.5 trillion borrowing program in the domestic debt market to close the unfunded 2025 budget deficit”
The Senate accordingly referred the request to its Committee on Local and Foreign Debts and reported back within one week.
