Members of the House of Representatives have approved the request of President Muhammadu Buhari to raise N850 billion.
The Federal Government is to raise the money in the New External Borrowing Plan in the 2020 Appropriations Act in naira, from the Domestic Capital Market.
The lawmakers gave the approval on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, during plenary at the lower chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja.
This followed the consideration of the report on the 2020 External Borrowing Plan of the Federal Government by Garba Alhassan Ado.
The lawmakers gave the approval two weeks after members of the upper chamber of the National Assembly granted a similar request of the President.
President Buhari had asked the Senate to approve his request to secure a fresh loan of N850 billion to fund some projects in the 2020 budget.
He made the request in a letter read by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, during a plenary on April 28.
According to the President, the loan will be raised from the domestic capital market to ensure adequate funds to finance projects in the budget.
After the letter was read, the senators gave accelerated approval to the President’s request to raise the loan.
They had also asked the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriation to liaise with the minister of finance, budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, to get more details on the loan request.
