Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, says Nigeria, at this point, has no choice but to borrow to invest in the Nigerian economy.
Kemi Adeosun
While speaking at a town hall meeting in Abuja, the Minister of
Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said Nigeria at this point (economic recession)
has no choice but to borrow to invest in the Nigerian economy, adding
that the federal government is very conscious and conservative about its
borrowing, so as not to leave a heavy debt burden for future
generations.
“We have a very conservative borrowing programme, and we must
borrow; because to do rail — the rail that we have now was done in the
colonial era — there has been really significant upgrade.
“We have urgently to do rail to enable agriculture and solid
minerals to be competitive, so I really don’t see that there is any
option than to borrow.
“We will borrow sustainably; we would borrow conservatively to make sure that we don’t burden future generation,” she said.
According to TheCable News,
the minister added that the government would be different in its
approach to borrowing this time, and would not borrow to fund recurrent
expenditure. Rather, it will be to fund infrastructural development.
“The difference is, we’ve been borrowing in the past to pay
salaries; now we borrow to invest. When you borrow to invest, there is
an expectation that there will be additional revenue that will service
those borrowings.
“I think that is the clear difference. I don’t think people
should be unduly concerned about borrowing; we have to borrow, we have
no choice but we will borrow as strictly as possible.
“This is why we have approached the World Bank and export
credit organisations that provide concessional loans. We are taking
concessional loans before going for commercial loans,” she added.
