"We have no choice but borrow $29.9B" - Finance minister

January 19, 2017 9:29 PM

Kemi Adeosun has said Nigeria has no choice but borrow the proposed loan by President Buhari to get out of recession.

Nigeria's Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun speaks at a news conference in Lagos, Nigeria, April 9, 2016. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said Nigeria must get the loan if it must survive the economic crisis.

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Adeosun made this known on Thursday at a ceremony in Abuja when speaking on charting the way forward and out of recession.

In her words: “Just to give you an idea of where we are today, last month FAAC was N310 billion. So FG got about N140 billion, but I must cover N330 billion a month before we can do a single capital project.

“So, when we start the argument, should we borrow, should we not, the truth is that we have no choice.

“If you are waiting for the oil price to recover, the prognosis is that it’s not going to go back to 110 dollars per barrel any time soon.

“So, to get the economy growing, we have no choice but to look for low cost funds and put that infrastructure in place because it is the infrastructure that will unlock the economy,’’ she said.