The Federal Government of Nigeria, in the second half of 2023, received an additional N3.8 trillion in what could be described as a fresh Ways and Means borrowing, Theliberationnews reports.
This was contained in 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).
The data contradicts claims by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, that the Federal government had not borrowed money from the CBN.
It was observed that 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.
