*Tinubu to sign budget today
In what can be regarded as matching words with action, the National Assembly, on Saturday, passed the N28.77trillion budget for the 2024 fiscal year
The Senate and House of Representatives also increased the N27.5trillion presented by President Bola Tinubu to N28.7 trillion.
The development represent an increase of over N1.2 trillion.
President Tinubu is expected to sign the budget on Sunday (today) in order to maintain the January – December budget circle.
The Senate also increased the exchange rate from N750 to N800 per dollar while the 1.78m bpd daily oil production, US$77.96 oil benchmark price and GDP growth rate of 3.88% were approved as proposed by the Federal Government.
The passage of the budget was a sequel to the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriation presented by the Chairman, Senator Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Ogun West).
President Tinubu had on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, presented the budget to the joint session of the National Assembly which he tagged “Budget of Renewed Hope.”
Incidentally, the Senate had on Friday, December 1, 2023, passed the N27.5 trillion 2023 budget for second reading.
The passage of the appropriation bill for the second reading, followed a substantial debate on its general principles which had commenced on Thursday, November 30, 2023.
Both chambers immediately suspended plenary and opted to dedicate their time to the budget defence sessions at committee levels.
The budget, which is Tinubu’s first budget as the President of Nigeria, was based on a non-debt recurrent expenditure of N9.92 trillion, while debt service was projected to be N8.25 trillion and capital expenditure is N8.7 trillion.
The Breakdown of the approved 2024 Budget are as follows:
*Aggregate – 28,777,404,73, 861
*Statutory transfer – N1, 742,786,788,150
*Debt service – N8,270,960,606, 831
*Recurrent (non-debt) expenditure – N8,768,513,380,852
*Contribution to the development of the Capital expenditure – N9,995,143,298,28
Senator Adeola also urged the Executive to ensure compliance and provide adequate funds to the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)
The Senate, thereafter, dissolved into the Committee of the Whole which considered and passed the budget accordingly.
Meanwhile, the Senate has approved the securitisation of outstanding N7. 388trn Ways and Means following the request of President Tinubu which aims to realise the reduction of debt service cost and to extend the repayment period of the existing loans.
The Ways and Means provision allows the government to borrow from the Central Bank of Nigeria if it requires short-term or emergency financing to support delayed government projected cash receipts of fiscal shortfalls.
According to the President’s letter to the Senate, the interest rate for the securitized Ways and Means advances has been reduced to 9% per annum, compared to the MPR of +3%.
The parameters of the securitisation of Ways and Means advances as gazetted by the Debt Management Office (DMO) entail the Federal Government issuing debt securities with a 40-year tenor to the CBN, with a 5% interest rate and a 3-year moratorium on principal repayments.
