The Federal Government has said it sometimes borrows funds to buy petrol as the country continues to incur rising fuel subsidy bills.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, while speaking during an interview with Arise TV.
She also confirmed that there was a possibility of global economic recession this year, but stressed that Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves were healthy enough to withstand the shocks.
Ahmed also stated that the Federal Government at some point had to borrow funds to buy Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, despite the huge subsidy spending on the commodity.
She insisted on ending the fuel subsidy regime, while adding that would be done gradually from the second quarter of this year by the current government.
She said the government would be able to increase the revenue performance on the 2022 figure, as well as reduce the debt service to revenue ratio.
“We also have to exit fuel subsidy, because that is also a very significant contributory factor. You can look at it in two ways – it is revenue that would have come to the government but it doesn’t because it has been spent on fuel subsidy,” she said.
