Nigeria, Nov. 4 -- President Bola Tinubu has withdrawn his earlier request to the National Assembly to approve the processing of external loans worth $20.5 billion and €1.05 billion under the 2026-2027 Supplementary External Borrowing Plan.

The president has instead requested approval for a new external borrowing plan of $7.7 billion to finance the 2026 budget deficit partly.

The new request, which seeks approval for $7,707,404,882.49, was in a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary on Wednesday.

According to Mr Tinubu, the proposed borrowing is equivalent to N10.9 trillion, calculated at an exchange rate of $1 to N1,400, and is intended to finance the N20.2 trillion budget deficit partly.

The president ...