The Lagos Chamber of Industry as well as the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture have stated that the current debt profile is not sustainable.
According to The PUNCH, the agency through its Director-General, Patience Oniha, said this during the public presentation of the 2023 budget organised by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed.
According to him, the government ought to find creative solutions to revenue generation beyond its frequent recourse to taking loans.
He said, “The issue of sustainability is no longer being considered by the government. This government just wants to borrow its way out of the remaining term and then leave the problem for the next government. That’s just to put it mildly. So, the bigger picture of sustainability and structure will have to be addressed by the incoming government because the level of borrowing now is not sustainable by our revenue.
“As a country we are not generating enough revenue to service our debts and still run a government. Since last year, we have been living on borrowed money because the debt servicing has crossed 100 per cent of our revenue. If you look at our budget every year, when you look at the debt servicing, it is higher than the estimated revenue. So we just borrow on top of all that to run the government. That is what we are doing now. It is not sustainable.”
