Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has explained why President Muhammadu Buhari recently embarked on a trip to China to secure a loan facility for Nigeria.
Mohammed made the disclosure on Sunday, April 10, 2016, while speaking on Channels TV’s “Sunday Politics”.
“There is no way, in the situation we have found ourselves, that we will not run a deficit budget. When your income is not enough to cover your expenditure, you borrow but what is important is what you do with the money you borrowed,” Mohammed said.
“Whatever money we borrow today is not going to be used for recurrent expenditure. It is going to be invested in railroads, roads, power, providing infrastructure for agriculture and solid minerals.
“What do you expect us to do? When we were earning 100 dollar per barrel, we had the same workforce as today when we are earning 40 dollars per barrel.
“When we had 100 dollars per barrel we had the same overhead as we have today and we still have to maintain the same infrastructure and still improve on it. Of course there is no other way than borrowing,” he added.
Chinese News Agency, CCTV has said that President Buhari is expected to borrow $2 billion from China but this amount has not been confirmed by the Nigerian Presidency.
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