- Minister Wale Edun said N13 trillion deficit in Nigeria's 2025 budget will be funded by loans
- Fiscal sustainability emphasised, with a focus on balancing revenue, expenditure, and borrowing
- Private sector investment highlighted as key to driving economic growth, with Shell and Total committing multi-billion-dollar investments
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, has revealed that the N13 trillion deficit in the N48 trillion 2025 budget would be funded through loans.
The minister made this announcement on Monday, December 15, during a briefing with State House Correspondents following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said, “And even looking at it from an international context, we, like governments around the world, are concerned about how to achieve fiscal sustainability, revenue to expenditure and borrowing that is balanced, to create an environment in which the economy can grow.”
The total projected revenue for 2025 was estimated at N34.8 trillion, while the anticipated expenditure stood at N47.9 trillion, reflecting a 36.8% increase from the 2024 estimate. The resulting deficit for 2025 was projected to reach N13.1 trillion, which accounted for 3.89% of GDP.
According to Minister Edun, the budget was formulated based on the advancements achieved during the 18 months of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
“Private sector led economies such as ours and others, rely on investors to put down their money in various projects, increase productivity, create jobs, grow the economy and in the case of countries such as ours, bring the people out of poverty,” Edun stated.
Shell, Total announce multi-billion-dollar investments in Nigeria
He pointed out that the Tinubu administration had established policies that facilitated market pricing for both petroleum products and foreign exchange, while also working to improve electricity pricing.
Edun further said, “Just recently Shell announced a $5 billion investment, Total announced a multi-billion dollar investment just before that, and there are so many others expressing interest in investing in this country.
“So, progress has been made. There is greater fiscal sustainability and as I said, even the European countries are struggling to achieve some of these critical macroeconomic reforms.
“This budget is based on government spending in critical areas, but also more importantly, encouraging and making room for private sector investment.”
He expressed optimism about the improvements in the economy, adding, “For the first time in about 25 years we have domestic refinement of petrol, not just to produce petrol but also raw materials for industries across a whole range, from pharmaceuticals to building products to textiles.”
FG to allocate N6.5trn for personnel costs in 2025 due to new minimum wage
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that the Federal Government had projected a 60% increase in personnel costs for 2025, driven by the newly approved minimum wage for civil servants, totalling N6.56 trillion.
The salary increase from N30,000 to N70,000 pushed the total personnel budget up by N2.46 trillion, contributing to a projected N13.08 trillion budget deficit.