TheCable

The federal government says it is yet to decide the amount of loan it will obtain from the World Bank for the 2017 budget‎.

Udoma Udoma, minister of budget and national‎ planning, said this at the end of the federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.‎

He explained that the amount approved by the national assembly would determine the actual deficit that the facility is needed for.

‎”The figure we will borrow depends on the budget approved by the national assembly,” he said.

“We are waiting for the passage of the budget by the national assembly so that we will know the budget gap or the actual deficit before we can go to the World Bank for loan.”

President Muhammadu Buhari presented a budget proposal of N7.3 trillion to a joint session of the national assembly in December.

He told lawmakers that the budget would stimulate the economy and bring the country out of recession.

Udoma also spoke on the over subscription of Nigeria’s Eurobond. The $1bn Eurobond was oversubscribed by almost eight times.

He said the development showed the world’s strong appetite for Nigeria, adding that the government had the plans to launch another savings bond.‎

“Because of the funding constraints, the budget has a deficit, I travelled with the minister of finance and CBN governor to market out Eurobond,” he said.

“As you can see, the Eurobond was oversubscribed by over 8 times, so the funds are coming in, there is more stability in the Niger-Delta, so more monies are coming in.”

On why the FEC meeting lasted over seven hours, Udoma said the council was fine-tuning the economy recovery growth plan.

“A lot of inputs were made by council members and it is virtually ready for the president to launch,” he said.

“However, we are doing some fine-tuning and during this period we also do some final consultation before the president launches the plan.

“The goal of the plan is to have an economy with low inflation, stable exchange rate and a diversified inclusive and sustaining growth.

“The proposed initiatives outlined in the plan are designed to address the country’s poor competitiveness, improve business environment and attract investment and infrastructure, especially power, roads, rails and ports.

“Let me add that there will be additional consultations that we agreed in cabinet that we will be making and one of the people we will be consulting will be labour before the plan is finalised.”