TUE, MARCH 19 2019-theG&BJournal- Senators were on different sides of the aisle when they passed the 2019 appropriation bill of N8.82 trillion today. The major contention was the size of the recurrent expenditure which dwarfed capital budget. They were also emotionally charged debate over the amount allocated for debt service and statutory transfers.
The bill which eventually passed three months after it was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari has been referred to the committee on appropriation by Senate President Bukola Saraki. The committee is expected to report back in two weeks.
The appropriation bill, as passed by the Senate, calls for N4 trillion recurrent spending and N2 capital expenditure. N2.2 trillion will be spent for debt servicing and another N492 billion allocated as statutory transfers.
The budget which was presented to the joint session of the National Assembly December 2018 was premised on an oil benchmark of $60 at an output of 2.3 mb/d, an inflation rate of 9.98%, an exchange rate of N305/$ and a projected GDP growth rate of 3.01%.
N6.97 trillion was projected as revenue-3% lower than the 2018 estimate of N7.17 trillion. Oil and non-oil revenue projections were N3.73 trillion and N1.39 trillion respectively.
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