The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has warned governors against excessive borrowing to ensure the economic growth of the country.

The minister gave the warning in Enugu yesterday while delivering a lecture entitled 'Managing Public Finance for Agricultural and Industrial Growth' at the 2012 South East Economic Summit.

She said "those who are taking domestic debt need to watch it, because it is as dangerous as or even more so than the external debt.

"When you have domestic debt, you must service it, because it is your institutions, your pension funds, your banks who owe this debt and you must pay it, otherwise it leads to other consequences within the economy.

"I am happy to say that we have put in place a very good strategy to manage the national domestic debt which is to decelerate the rate at which we borrow," she said.

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, explained that the zone would not progress without developing a sound vision, adding that developing the vision would help to drive the economy of the zone to greater heights.

He, however, called on the governors of the South East to create an enabling environment for investors to thrive in the zone.