Nigeria Seeks to Double Budget Gap to Pay for Fuel Subsidies
- President Buhari seeks approval for 10% increase in spending
- Government will need to borrow an extra 1.6 trillion naira
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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari asked lawmakers to approve a 10 percent jump in spending for this year that will double the budget deficit, mainly to pay for fuel subsidies.
In a spending proposal sent to the National Assembly on Wednesday, Buhari requested to increase expenditure by an additional 466 billion naira ($2.4 billion) to 4.95 trillion naira. That will boost the fiscal deficit to 2.2 percent of gross domestic product from an original estimate of 1.1 percent. The government will need to borrow an additional 1.6 trillion naira, he said.