The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, justifying the country’s sustained borrowing, has said that the country’s exit from recession was stimulated by its borrowing spree.
Ahmed said this at the Public Presentation and Breakdown of the 2022 Appropriation Bill on Friday.
She noted that “Having witnessed two consecutive recessions, we have had to spend our way out of the recession which contributed significantly to the growth of our public debts.
“It is unlikely that our recovery from these recessions would have been as fast without the sustained government expenditure funded partly by debt.”
She added that the country’s borrowing leaning was spiked by the persistent security challenges bedeviling the country.
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Ahmed said that the borrowed funds were deployed to the defence sector, gulping 22 percent of the bulk.
She said, “Borrowings are essential to enable us to deploy necessary capital expenditure and invest in human capital development.
“To compound matters, the country has technically been at war, with the pervasive security challenges across the nation.
“This has necessitated massive expenditures on security equipment and operations, contributing to the fiscal deficit; Defence and Security sector accounts for 22% of the 2022 budget!”
