Tinubu seeks n’assembly’s approval to borrow N1.15trn to fund 2025 budget deficit

President Bola Tinubu has asked the national assembly to approve a N1.15 trillion domestic borrowing programme to fund the 2025 budget deficit.

The request, contained in a letter addressed to the president of the senate, said the gap was created by an increase in the size of the budget beyond earlier approved revenue and borrowing plans.

According to the president, the request is made pursuant to Section 44 (1–2) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007, which mandates the approval of the national assembly for all new borrowings by the federal government.

“I write to kindly request for the approval of the national assembly to establish a N1,150,000,000 borrowing programme in 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,” the letter reads.

“The distinguished president of the senate may wish to note that the national assembly passed a budget of N59.9 trillion, an increase of N5.25 trillion from the N49.74 trillion budget proposal by the executive.

“This increase created a budget deficit of N14 trillion.”

He said the proposed borrowing approved in the budget was N12.95 trillion, which occasioned 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,” Tinubu said.

“Based on the foregoing, I wish to request for the approval of the senate for the establishment of a N1,150,000,000 borrowing programme in the domestic debt market to close the unfunded 2025 budget deficit gap.

“A specimen of the approval required for this purpose is attached as an extra tool.”

The development comes a few days after the national assembly approved Tinubu’s request to borrow $2.35 billion to finance part of the 2025 budget deficit.

The upper and lower chambers also granted Tinubu’s request to issue a $500 million debut sovereign sukuk in the international capital market (ICM) to fund infrastructure projects and diversify Nigeria’s financing sources.