Revealed: Buhari Set to borrow N5bn daily from IMF

 

Palpable anxiety has hit the Presidency as the International Monetary Fund, IMF, has predicted a further dip in global oil prices in 2016. It predicted that the price of the product would plummet between $20 to $30 dollars per barrel, rubbishing President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2016 oil benchmark of $38 per barrel.

IMF’s prediction is premised on the return of Iran to the international oil export market, explaining that Iranian pumps would increase supply in the market and subsequently dip the price next year. It would be recalled that Goldman Sachs predicted that crude prices will fall to about $20 a barrel.

While presenting the appropriation bill to the joint section of the National Assembly, Buhari pegged the oil benchmark for the 2016 budget at $38 per barrel and also projected crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day.

The implication is that since oil export is the major source of foreign exchange for the nation’s economy, a further dip in the price of oil would negatively impact on the implementation of the 2016 budget.

The Budget has deficits of N1.84 trillion which would be financed from both local and international financing organizations. Post Nigeria authoritatively gathered that the President in a bid to finance the budget deficits will have to borrow N5.041 billion daily.

This implies that in 365 days of 2016, Buhari will have to borrow N5.041 billion daily to fund his budget which according to financial analyst portends dangers, spells doom as the highest ever in the history of the nation.

Reacting to this, the Executive Director at Citizens Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights (CCIDESOR), Emeka Ononamadu, said, Buhari’s huge borrowing could take Nigeria back to one of the heavily indebted countries in the world.

    “Currently over a trillion is earmarked to pay and service existing debt. What this portends is both negative and positive. If this huge debt is not managed properly or managed with the Nigeria factor, it will mortgage the future of Nigerians, particularly the young Nigerians,” Ononamadu lamented.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has also picked holes in the 2016 budget as its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, noted that Buhari’s decision to borrow N2 trillion, shows height of recklessness and deceit from a government that trends on propaganda.

    “There has never been any known economy in the world where government deliberately mortgage the future of its nation by borrowing excessively to finance partisan interests while hiding under bogus welfare programmes.

    “We have it on good authority that this is the first in the series of APC borrowings which would leave the future generation of Nigerians under the burden of huge debts after four years,” Metuh stated. 

Source: PostNigeria