APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday in Abuja presented a budget of N27.5 trillion for 2024 to the country’s National Assembly.
Presenting the budget with the theme ‘Budget of Renewed Hope’, to the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, President Tinubu said that the budget would “seek to achieve job-rich economic growth, macro-economic stability, a better investment environment, enhanced human capital development, as well as poverty reduction and greater access to social security”
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He said that the new budget would focus on defence and internal security and that internal security architecture would be overhauled to enhance law enforcement capabilities and safeguard lives, property and investments across the country.
He explained that human capital is the most critical resource for national development and that the budget prioritizes human development with particular attention to children, the foundation of our nation.
“To improve the effectiveness of our budget performance, government will focus on ensuring value for money, greater transparency and accountability. In this regard, we will work more closely with development partners and the private sector.
“To address long-standing issues in the education sector, a more sustainable model of funding tertiary education will be implemented, including the Students Loan Scheme scheduled to become operational by January 2024,” he said.
According to him, a stable macro-economic environment is important to catalyse private investment and accelerate economic growth and that the government shall continue to implement business and investment friendly measures for sustainable growth.
We expect the economy to grow by a minimum of 76 percent, above the forecasted world average. Inflation is expected to moderate to 21.4 percent in 2024.
The highlights of the budget include a conservative oil price benchmark of $96 per barrel and daily oil production estimate of 1.78 million barrels per day and the adoption of an exchange rate of N750 to $1 for 2024.
An aggregate expenditure of N5 trillion is proposed for the Federal Government in 2024, of which the non-debt recurrent expenditure is N9.92 trillion, while debt service is projected to be N8.25 trillion and capital expenditure is N8.7 trillion and projected debt service is put at 45% of the expected total revenue.
Budget deficit is projected at N18 trillion in 2024 or 3.88 percent of GDP. This is lower than the N13.78 trillion deficit recorded in 2023 which represents 6.11 percent of GDP.
The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totalling N83 trillion, N298.49 billion from Privatization Proceeds and N1.05 trillion drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.
The 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion is 26% higher than the 2023 budget.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu has written to the National Assembly, seeking the approval of $8.6bn and €100m external borrowing plan for critical infrastructure in areas such as power, roads, water, railway, and health. ($1=N820)
GIK/APA