Flingpord

  Nigeria’s public debt burden may hit N77tn if the National Assembly approves the request by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to restructure the Ways and Means Advances. Thee Ways and Means Advances is a loan facility through which the Central Bank of Nigeria finances the shortfalls in the government’s budget. This is as the Federal Government spent N5.24tn servicing debts in 2022. The Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha disclosed this on Wednesday during the public presentation of the 2023 budget organized by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed. She, however, noted that the debt would be N70tn without N5tn new borrowing and N2tn promissory notes. Oniha said, “The DMO released the figure for the country’s debt stock as at September, you don’t expect it to be significantly different from December. Secondly, there are a lot of discussions on the Ways and Means. In addition to the significant costs sa...