Senate approves FG’s $5.51bn external loan request

The Senate has approved the $5.513bn external loan request by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The president had, last week, sought the Senate’s approval for the loan to fund the revised 2020 budget deficit.

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Buhari had, in his letter to the Senate president and the speaker of the House of Representatives last week, said $3.4bn would be sourced from the International Monetary Fund; $1.5bn from the World Bank; $500m from the African Development Bank and $113m from the Islamic Development Bank.

The Senate approved the loan after consideration of the report of its Committee on Local and Foreign Debt.

​It asked the executive to forward the terms and conditions of the loans from each lender as contained in a duly executed loan agreement for proper documentation.

The Senate, however, stepped down Buhari’s loan request to finance priority projects and those to support the state government.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the $22.7bn loan request which it rejected last year.

Buhari had, last year, said the loan would be used to finance key infrastructure, but federal legislators from the southeast had kicked against the request, alleging exclusion of their zone in the loan’s implementation plan.