FG to start international borrowing in Q3 – Adeosun

The Federal Government will start borrowing abroad in the third quarter, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said.

This is coming barely one week after the Central Bank of Nigeria floated the naira completely on the official interbank market.

The Federal Government has said it is planning to borrow up to $10bn, with about half of that coming from foreign sources, to help make up a budget shortfall exacerbated by a slump in oil prices, Reuters reported.

Adeosun met international investors in June on a non-deal roadshow in London as the government explored fund-raising options to finance a record budget deficit.

 The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; and CBN Deputy Governor, Sarah Alade, met investors in the United States and London last week to entice them to buy naira assets.

On Thursday, the currency hit a record low of 330.50 in off-market transactions, after just one trade was made during regular interbank hours at a rate of 309 naira to the dollar, Reuters reported.

“We have been borrowing largely from the domestic market because we needed to get the exchange rate sorted out to enable us to borrow from the international market. The international borrowings will begin to come in Q3,” Adeosun told reporters.