Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed

By Ngozi Onyeakusi— Despite outrageous rise in debt owed by the country, the Federal Government,  has disclosed plans to borrow more to fund its 2022  budget  while it will spend more to service the growing debts as a result. The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Debt Management Office and the Budget Office of the Federation gave the indication at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Finance in Abuja on Monday. The committee had organised the stakeholders’ meeting on the 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, with which the 2022 Appropriation Bill would be designed. The Director-General, DMO, Patience Oniha, while explaining some of the points in the presentation earlier made by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, noted that the debt stock would keep increasing as revenue is declining. Oniha said, “I think one of the things that have come out from the presentation from the honourable minister is, much as we have been conservative in projecting revenues, we still see that we are underperforming in revenue. “So, it means that we are relying increasingly on borrowings to finance the activities of the government.