Index to Nigerian Newspapers

President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians and investors that there is an ongoing plan to boost the country's foreign exchange liquidity. This was as the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said that the country was expecting about $10bn inflows in the nearest term, which would help to clear foreign exchange backlog and stabilise the naira. Speaking at the 29th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Monday, Tinubu acknowledged the challenges faced by the business community in the financial markets and assured them of additional foreign exchange liquidity to restore market confidence. The President outlined the eight priority items of his administration to include ending poverty, achieving food security, economic growth and job creation, access to capital, inclusivity, security, fairness and rule of law, and anti-corruption. Tinubu called on the private sector to support his vision for a greater Nigeria and urged them to bring their ideas, leadership, capital, and collective will to build a future of renewed hope.

Nigeria's total public debt may hit N118.37tn in the next three years, findings by The PUNCH have shown. The figure was based on analysing Nigeria's current debt profile and the debt projections in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper 2024-2026. According to the new MTEF/FSP, the Federal Government plans to take N26.42tn loans between 2024 and 2026. The fiscal policy also indicates that debt servicing will gulp N29.92tn in three years. The PUNCH also found that the country had borrowed about N5.05tn between January and June from its N9.62tn borrowing plan for 2023, which means that the Federal Government will likely still borrow at least N4.57tn more this year. Despite the rising debt, the Federal Government has insisted that it will stick to its borrowing plan. However, President Bola Tinubu recently expressed his administration's commitment to breaking the cycle of overreliance on borrowing for public spending and the resultant burden of debt servicing it placed on the management of limited government revenues.