Buhari writes National Assembly, seeks fresh $5.513bn loan to finance revised budget

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the National Assembly to approve plan by his administration, to borrow a fresh $5.513 billion external loan to finance the revised 2020 budget.

This was contained in a letter he sent to the federal lawmakers, which was read by Senate President Ahmed Lawan during Senate plenary on Thursday.

President Buhari said in the letter that the loan would be used to finance the deficit in the 2020 budget and support the critical projects from the state and Federal Government.

He added that the Federal Government had plans to also raise money externally and internally.

The external loan is $5.513 billion out of which $3.4 billion will come from the IMF, $1.5 billion from the World Bank, $500 million from AFDB, and $113 million from the Islamic Development Bank.

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President Buhari went further to note that the assumptions in the 2020 budget were no longer attainable given the slump in oil prices and lower demand for crude oil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He equally presented a revised 2020 Appropriation Bill and 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper to the Senate.

He called on the lawmakers to give an expedited passage of the revised MTEF and the budget due to the urgency of the situation.

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