By Joshua Egbodo
Abuja
Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has written the National Assembly, seeking approval of the issuance of $500 million Eurobond in the international capital market, to fund the 2016 budget deficit.It would be recalled that the 2016 Appropriation Act was passed with a deficit of N2.204 billion.
Osinbajo, in a letter read to members at plenary of the House of Representatives by Speaker Yakubu Dogara yesterday, explained that while the approved domestic borrowing plan for the 2016 fiscal year has been fully incurred, “the N635.877 billion external borrowing has not been fully accessed.”
He said the external borrowing incurred to date consist of $600 million from the African Development Bank, and One billion dollar Eurobond from the international capital market.
“Thus, based on the 2016 appropriation and applying the average exchange rate, there is headroom to access further international funds,” he said.
He said following the oversubscription of the One billion dollar Eurobond issuance, “we wish to take advantage of favorable market conditions to issue a Eurobond debt instrument of US500 million to fund the implementation of the 2016 budget, which is still ongoing.”
The National Assembly had earlier passed a resolution, extending the lifespan of the capital component of the 2016 budget to March 31, 2017.
