The president said the target of his administration is to grow the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the current 8 per cent to 15 per cent by 2025.
President Muhammadu Buhari has justified the frequent borrowings by his administration, saying the country’s debt profile is still within a sustainable level.
He said this while presenting the 2022 budget estimate before a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday.
He said though, Nigerians are right to be worried about the government’s borrowings and debts but argued that such borrowings were needed as they helped in bringing the country out of recession and boosting the economy.
The president said the target of his administration is to grow the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the current 8 per cent to 15 per cent by 2025.
He said, “We plan to finance the deficit mainly by new borrowings totalling N5.01trillion, N90.73billion from Privatisation Proceeds and N1.16trillion drawdowns on loans secured for specific development projects.
“Some have expressed concern over our resort to borrowing to finance our fiscal gaps. They are right to be concerned. However, we believe that the debt level of the Federal Government is still within sustainable limits. Borrowings are to specific strategic projects and can be verified publicly.
“As you are aware, we have witnessed two economic recessions within the period of this Administration. In both cases, we had to spend our way out of recession, which necessitated a resort to growing the public debt. It is unlikely that our recovery from each of the two recessions would have grown as fast without the sustained government expenditure funded by debt.”
Buhari said the 2022 budget is designed to build on the achievements recorded in previous budgets and to actualize the 2021-2025 development plan.