FG seeks loans from India, China, France to fund 2012 budget

Goodluck Jonathan

The Federal Government is to fund a quarter of its 2012 budget proposal with external and domestic loans with the third world country, India, for the first time giving a helping hand to the Nigerian treasury.
A total of $1.712 billion estimated at N265.36 billion is coming from countries such as India, China and France while the government is also expecting to dig N794 billion from the domestic market, bringing total borrowings for funding of fiscal 2012 at N1.059 trillion. The Federal Government spending proposal for 2012 laid before the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan is N4.7 trillion.
Besides the N1.059 loan needed to fund government spending next year, the government is also expecting to borrow another N600 billion from the capital market to refinance matured loans.
$1.032 billion is to be sourced from India, Japan, China under new borrowings to fund the N4.74 trillion Federal Government budget, according to the budget details submitted to the National Assembly.
The new borrowings by government is besides $679.53 million in existing loan agreements that would be drawn down in the forthcoming budget year, according to accompanying details on the budget forwarded to the National Assembly.
The government is also expecting to actively borrow from the capital market in fiscal 2012 with a proposal to raise N1.394 trillion from the capital market. N794 .440 billion to be realised from the capital market is to be used in financing the 2012 budget while the balance of N600.4 billion is to be used in refinancing of matured Federal Government bonds.
Source