The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, have said the government needs to borrow more to be able to finance its policies.
The two ministers stated that though revenue generation has been on the increase, it would not be enough for President Bola Tinubu’s administration to finance its projects aside infrastructure development.
Edun And Bagudu stated this during an interactive session of the Senate Joint Committees on Finance and National Planning and Economic Affairs on the 2025-2027 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper.
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Edun said, “The revenue effort has been good, but we still need to do better, and in the meantime, we still need to borrow productively, effectively and sustainably.
“Not just infrastructure but also social services, health services, education and intervention in terms of social safety net to help the poorest and most vulnerable.”
On his part, Senator Atiku Bagudu told the lawmakers that the borrowing plans contained in the ₦35.5 trillion 2024 budget, were primarily meant to fund the ₦9.7 trillion deficit.
“Despite revenue targets surpassed by some of the revenue generating agencies, the government still needs to borrow for proper funding of the budget, particularly in the area of deficit and productivity for the poorest and most vulnerable.
“We have a long-term development perspective plan agenda 2050 aiming at GDP per capita of $33,000,” Daily Post quoted Bagudu.