President Muhammadu Buhari stated that if parliament rejects a request for a loan-to-bond swap on the central bank’s overdraft to government, Nigeria will be required to pay an additional 1.8 trillion naira ($4 billion) in interest in 2023.
After some senators expressed doubts about the proposal, the Senate postponed making a decision on the president’s request to convert $53 billion in central bank overdrafts to the government into 40-year bonds.
However, lawmakers increased the 2023 budget to 21.83 trillion naira ($49 billion), an increase of 6.4%.
Buhari stated in a speech that his administration had negotiated a rate of 9% for the bonds, which is 3% lower than the government’s existing rate of 3% over the central bank’s lending rate of 16.5%.