Tuesday, 8 October 2019

Buhari Presents 2020 Budget to NASS



President Muhammadu Buhari accompanied by members of the Federal Executive Council has presented the 2020 budget proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly .

Buhari , who addressed the joint session of NASS at about , 2 . 03 p. m. , unveiled a budget of N10 . 33 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year .

The Federal Executive Council had proposed N10 . 007 trillion for the financial year but the figure was increased to N10 . 33 trillion by the National Assembly .

The president said the 2020 budget was designed to be a budget of “ Fiscal consolidation to strengthen our macroeconomic environment ; Investing in critical infrastructure, human capital development and enabling institutions, especially in key job creating sectors . ’’

He added that the budget was meant for “ Incentivising private sector investment essential to complement the government ’ s development plans , policies and programmes ; and enhancing our social investment programmes to further deepen their impact on those marginalised and most vulnerable Nigerians . ”

According to him , the total Federal Government revenue in 2020 is N8 . 155 trillion comprising oil revenue of N 2 . 64 trillion, non - oil tax revenues of N 1 . 81 trillion and other revenue of N3 . 7 trillion.

“ This is seven per cent higher than the 2019 comparative estimate of N7 . 594 trillion inclusive of the Government Owned Enterprises, ’’ he said .

The president said non - debt recurrent expenditure include N3 . 6 trillion for personnel and pension costs , an increase of N620 . 28 over the 2019 fiscal year figure .

“ This increase reflects the new minimum wage as well as our proposals to improve remuneration and welfare of our police and armed forces , ’’ he said .

He disclosed that N2 . 46 trillion was earmarked for capital projects , inclusive of N 318. 06 billion in statutory transfers.

Other estimates are N556 . 7 billion for statutory transfers; N2 . 45 trillion for debt servicing and provision of N296 billion as sinking fund .

He explained that the sinking fund would be used to “ retire maturing bonds to local contractors” .

The 2020 budget is based on an oil production estimate of 2 . 18 million barrels per day , oil price benchmark of 57 dollars per barrel and an exchange rate of N305 to a dollar .

Other benchmarks are : real Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) , growth rate of 2 . 93 per cent while inflation rate “ is expected to remain slightly above single digits in 2020 ’’

On sectoral allocation , the president said the Ministry of Interior would get N35 billion as against N569 billion in 2019 , Defence ( N100 billion ) , Education ( N48 billion ) and Health ( N46 billion ) for some key spending
He noted with delight the continued recovery of the nation’ s economy as well as the increase in the foreign reserve from 23 billion dollars in 2016 to N42 . 5 billion dollars in August .

“ This increase is largely due to favourable prices of crude oil in the international market , minimal disruption of crude oil production given the stable security in the Niger Delta region and our import substitution drive , especially in key commodities , ” he explained.

 NAN

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