FINANCE MINISTER, KEMI ADEOSUN, DECRIES HIGH INTEREST RATE FOR DOMESTIC BORROWING

Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has decried the high cost of domestic borrowing on the economy, lamenting that it is impacting negatively on pri­vate sector investments.

The minister made this known during the United Capital launch of its Eurobond and Wealth for Women Fund where she said that the country’s debt profile is unbalanced. “Today, our debt profile is un-balanced. We borrow heavily domestically, with too short a tenure, and at a high cost. The impact of this is that we spend too much on interest and we crowd out the private sector from borrowing to fund their investment plans. This debt structure does not support our longterm growth ambitions, and so it must be amended. We need longer term and cheaper fi­nance to support the infra­structure investments we must make,” she said.

Adesoun who pointed out that the federal government alone cannot bridge the gap of the infrastructure deficit of the country, said the govern­ment has started engaging the private sector through housing fund and the road trust fund. While noting that invest­ment in critical infrastructure across the country will un­lock job and wealth creation and strengthen economic de­velopment across all states in Nigeria, the minister assured that the Federal Government will mobilise private capital to complement government spending on infrastructure. (Authority)