N22.7 trillion printed by CBN under Buhari cause of inflation – Finance Minister, Edun

Olawale Edun, the Minister of Finance, has attributed the current inflation and economic difficulties in Nigeria to the Central Bank of Nigeria printing N22.7 trillion under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari and former CBN governor Godwin Emefiele in the guise of Ways and Means loans.

During a meeting with the Senate Committee on Finance on Wednesday, March 7, Edun expressed concern that the Ways and Means loans during the previous administration were conducted without clear purpose.

He pledged to oversee an audit of the CBN’s printing activities over the past eight years under Tinubu’s administration.

The Minister said; 

“We talked about inflation, and you helped solve that. Where has it come from? It came from the eight years of printing money not matched by productivity. it’s not like when you earn dollars and free the naira alongside it, although there’s even a better way than that. But that’s still not as bad.

“You distinguished senators have helped. You have given us the mandate to raise N7tn, which we will do by sucking money from the market, using it to pay back the Central Bank and giving the government a balanced book. We are going to audit even the N22.7 trillion printed aimlessly.”