In the last six months of 2023, the Federal Government of Nigeria received an additional N3.8 trillion in what appeared to be a fresh Ways and Means borrowing, according to a provisional data published in the latest statistics bulletin for the fourth quarter of the year recently released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This is despite claims by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, that the President Bola Tinubu government had not borrowed money from the CBN. 

The CBN’s provisional data showed that the total figure rose from N4.4 trillion at the end of June 2023, meaning that the cumulative Ways and Means balances due by the government grew to N8.2 trillion as at December 2023. 

Total Ways and Means balances as at May 2023 when the Tinubu administration took over was N26.95 trillion. However, the balances were securitised as included as part of the federal government’s domestic debt profile. 

A breakdown of the data shows that the balance at the end of June 2023 was N4.36 trillion, indicating that the prior month balances may have been moved to the Debt Management Office.  

However, from July 2023, the balances increase every month, first to N4.5 trillion in July, then N5.1 trillion in August, crossing the N5.1 trillion mark for the first time.  

By September, the total was N6.4 trillion, representing the single largest additional borrowing for a month with about N1.3 trillion. It then climbed to N7.2 trillion in October before rising marginally to N7.6 trillion in November. 

At the end of the year, in December, the total hit N8.21 trillion, suggesting that Ways and Means increased by 88 per cent in six months. 

[DailyTrust]