President Muhammadu Buhari has requested parliament on Tuesday to approve new external borrowing of $6.18 billion this year, reports Reuters.
Nigeria will seek to raise $3 billion or more in Eurobonds as part of the new debt, the president wrote in a letter to parliament detailing the borrowing plan.
The money will partly be used to finance Nigeria’s 2021 budget deficit, going to projects in the power, transport and agriculture sectors, as well as education, health and defence, said Buhari.
Nigeria had planned a Eurobond issue early last year after raising $2.86 billion through its sixth such sale in 2018, but decided to defer the 2020 sale due to market turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.