President Buhari has asked the House of Representatives to approve N819.5 billion supplementary budget for 2022 as Nigeria’s debt increase to N22.57 trillion
In a letter read by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila on Wednesday, President Buhari said the budget will be financed with new domestic borrowing. He noted that if the supplementary budget is approved, it will take a total deficit in 2022 to N8.17 trillion.
He explained that the country decided to explore a supplementary budget because of the impact of flood and the need to complete major roads that are at 85% completion.
The letter in part reads, “The year 2022 has witnessed the worse flood incident in recent history which has caused massive destruction of farm lands at a point already closed to harvest season. This may compound the situation of food security and nutrition in the country. The flood has also devastated road infrastructure in across the 36 states and the FCT as well as bridges nationwide that are critical for movement of goods and services.
The water sector was equally affected by the flood and there is a need to complete some ongoing critical projects that have already achieved about 85 per cent completion. The nine critical projects proposed in the sector cuts across water supply, dam projects and irrigation projects nationwide.
I have approved a supplementary budget of 2022 appropriation of N819.536 billion , all of which are capital expenditure. The supplementary will be financed through additional domestic borrowings which will raise the budget deficit for 2022 to N8.17 .trillion and deficit to GDP ratio to 4.43 per cent.”
