SUN, DEC 31 2023-theGBJournal| The National Assembly on Saturday passed the 2024 federal spending bill after majority of the lawmakers approved an addition to the original budget submitted in November by President Bola Tinubu.
Consequently, the budget was raised from N27.5 trillion to N28.7 trillion, after hearing arguments that the increase was as a result of a request for additional funding items which were not listed in the Appropriation Bill earlier submitted by the President.
The lawmakers said they also observed inadequate funding in the budgetary allocations of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government.
The Assembly members voted to pass the increase of the budget by about N1.2 trillion after considering a report presented by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Ogun West) and that of the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi (APC, Kano).
Olamilekan, in presenting the budget report on behalf of the Senate, recommended that N1.7 trillion be approved for Statutory Transfers and N8.2 trillion approved for debt service.
Similarly, he recommended that N8.2 trillion be set aside as recurrent expenditure and N9.9 trillion as capital expenditure.
The passed budget is premised on an exchange rate of N800/USD as against N750/USD proposed by the President while oil production benchmark is presumed at 1.78mbpd at USD77.96 per barrel.
GDP growth rate is projected at 3.88% for the fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the Senate approved the securitization of outstanding N7.388 trillion Ways and Means (borrowings from Central Bank of Nigeria) following the request by President Tinubu which he says will help realize the reduction of debt service cost and extend the repayment period of existing loans.
The President in making the request said, the interest rate for the securitized Ways and Means advances has been reduced to 9% per annum, compared to the MPR of +3%.
This is at variance with the gazetted parameters by the Debt Management Office (DMO) which stipulates that debt securities be issued with a 40-year tenor to the Central Bank, with a 5% interest rate and a 3-year moratorium on principal repayments.
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