The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Tuesday, December 29, 2015 confirmed a report first published by Post Nigeria, uncovering how N5.041 billion would be borrowed daily from January 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari in order to fund the 2016 budget deficit of N1.84 trillion.
Collaborating Post Nigeria’s findings, the spokesperson of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, in a statement said that breakdown of the N1.84 trillion to be borrowed by Buhari to fund the budget shows that Nigeria would be borrowing N5 billion daily beginning from January I, 2016.
“By every standard, this budget is a booby trap against the nation. When you break down the proposed N1.84 trillion borrowing, you discover that it amounts to borrowing N5 billion every day for the 365 days in 2016.
“The questions are: for what specific projects are they borrowing N5 billion per day and how do they intend to pay back? Buhari should explain to Nigerians how his government intends to pay back the loan.
The PDP also supported Post Nigeria’s analysis of the budget, insisting that the budget lacks economic direction and was a complete embarrassment to Nigerians.
“Is it by continuous borrowing to service the interests, and does he intends to accumulate colossal debt for future generations of Nigerians?
“The truth is that this administration cannot justify this proposal. There is no known economy in the world where you can justify borrowing N1.84 trillion without specific projects and precise repayment outline.
“This is worse still in an oil-driven, mono-economy at a time crude oil is selling at $30 dollars per barrel and is speculated to go down to about $20 dollars or even lower in the next one year.
“The idea can only come when you diversify the economy and boost production capacity in manufacturing and other critical sectors, a direction, which the budget clearly failed to provide.
Recall that investors and analysts have also faulted buhari’s budget and picked holes in some of its assumptions.
The PDP warned that if the current trend of borrowing is not stoped, Buhari could lead Nigeria into economic collapse like the Greece debt crisis.
“From all indicators, the borrowing will be negative. They are driving us to be like Greece, and to plunge us into unnecessary debt. More importantly, we are really worried about negative economic policies of the present administration and the copying of strategies that failed in other economies.
“Recall that we had earlier alerted on the negative consequences of the retrogressive foreign exchange controls wherein this government is making it impossible for honest Nigerians to engage in free trade and regulate their personal activities.
“The negative impacts of the ill conceived controls include the hindering of international trade and discouraging of foreign investment,” Metuh stated.