Economy
Nigeria Considers $2.8bn External Loan for 2020 Budget
By Dipo Olowookere
The Debt Management Office (DMO) on Friday said Nigerian government was considering taking loan from foreign sources to fund the 2020 budget signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari a month ago.
On December 17, 2019, Mr Buhari, who travelled to the United Kingdom today for an investment summit starting next Monday, signed the 2020 Appropriation Bill into law. His government proposed to spend N10.33 trillion in this fiscal year, which kicked off on January 1.
In a chat with newsmen today, Director General of DMO, Ms Patience Oniha, said the President Buhari administration was planning new borrowings of N1.60 trillion, with N850 billon (about $2.8 billion at an exchange rate of N306/$1) and N744.99 billion for external and domestic loans respectively.
She noted that the foreign loans would come mainly from concessionary and semi concessionary sources due to the lower interest rate and longer tenors, adding that, “Any shortfall thereafter may be raised from commercial sources.”
The debt office noted that in the 2019 budget, a provision was made for an external borrowing of N802.82 ($2.62 billion), but this was never pursued due to late passage of the appropriation act.
“The 2019 Appropriation Act provided for a total new borrowing of N1.61 trillion split equally between domestic and external, only the domestic component of N802.82 billion was raised due to the late passage of the 2019 Appropriation Act and the expectation that the implementation of the 2020 budget would commence on January 1, 2020,” the DMO said.
However, there are indications that the external borrowing will be done.
The debt office also said last year, the ratio of domestic debt to external debt stood at 69:31 as at September 2019, an improvement over the 71:29 as at September 2018 compared with the target of 60:40 in the Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy.
It also said the ratio of long term to short term debt in the domestic debt as at September 2019 was 80:20, which shows that the target of 75:25 had been outperformed by September 2019, an improvement over the ratio of 73:23 recorded in September 2018.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
