President Buhari said, on Tuesday, that Nigeria would pay N1.8 trillion ($4 billion) extra interest in 2023 if the National Assembly rejected a loan-to-bond swap request on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s overdrafts to the government.
Buhari stated this during the signing into law of the 2023 budget of N21.83 trillion at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The Senate, last week, delayed a decision on the president’s request to convert $53 billion worth of central bank overdrafts to the government into 40-year bonds after some lawmakers questioned the plan.
Speaking on Tuesday, the President said the government was currently paying a three per cent margin above the central bank’s lending rate of 16.5 per cent but his regime had negotiated a rate of nine per cent for the bonds
The lawmakers increased the 2023 budget by 6.4 per cent to N21.83 trillion after they raised the oil price assumption to $75 per barrel from $70.
Buhari said he signed the amended appropriation bill into law having considered “the imminent transition process,” referring the nation’s general election coming up in January, “to enable its implementation to commence without delay.”