The Federal Government borrowed N1.83tn from the Central Bank of Nigeria through the Ways and Means loan in the first quarter of 2023.
Provisional data from the apex bank through its quarterly statistical bulletin disclosed this recently.
According to the data, the additional figure of N1.83 trillion had pushed the federal government’s borrowing from the CBN to N25.36tn in March 2023 to N23.53tn in December 2022.
The Ways and Means Advance is a loan facility the central bank uses to finance the government during temporary budget shortfalls, subject to limits imposed by law.
According to Section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007, the apex bank may grant temporary advances to the Federal Government concerning the temporary deficiency of budget revenue at such interest rate as the bank may determine.
The Ways and Means Advance had been a subject of controversy.
Financial experts believed the CBN exceeded its lending threshold to the federal government. Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office in May announced the securitization of CBN’s N22.7 trillion Ways and Means advance to the federal government.
Nigeria’s total debt stock rose to N49.85 trillion without adding CBN’s Ways and Means Loans.
