SAN FRANCISCO, May 15, (THEWILL) – The National Assembly has increased the 2018 budget by N508 billion to take it to N9,120, 334,988,225 from the N8.6 trillion presented by the President.
This comes more than six months after President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2018 expenditure profile to the lawmakers for consideration and passage.
THEWILL recalls that the document was presented to a joint sitting of the National Assembly by the President on November 7, 2017 with a plea that the lawmakers should expedite action so that the country could return to the traditional January to December budget cycle.
However, the bill was laid at the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday by the respective Appropriations Committee of both chambers.
In the House of representatives, it was presented by its Chairman Mustapha Dawaki and at the Senate by its Chairman Danjuma Goje.
According to the document, N530,421,368,624 was proposed for statutory transfer; N2,869,600,351,825 for development fund for capital expenditure; N3,516,477,902,077 for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure; N2,203,835,365,699 for debt service; and N199b for sinking fund for maturing loans.
The assumptions and projections were based on a benchmark crude oil price of $45 per barrel; oil production estimate of 2.3 million barrels per day; exchange rate of N305 for 2018; Real GDP growth of 3.5 per cent; and inflation rate of 12.4 percent.
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