SENATE GIVE REASONS FOR INCREASE IN NATIONAL BUDGET

On Monday, 21st of December the appropriation bill was passed by the senate after the chairman of the committee, Jibrin Barau presented a report.

During the presentation of his report, Barau noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has now affected all sectors of the economy.

According to the chairman, the executive arm of government is likely to present a supplementary budget owing to the fact that the country’s crude oil price is on the rise.

It is worthy of note that President Mohammadu Buhari earlier presented the 2021 budget of N13.08 trillion to a joint session of the national assembly.

The budget is initially based on an exchange rate benchmark of N379 to a dollar and crude oil production of 1.86 million barrels per day at $40 per barrel.

Capital expenditure in the budget is estimated at N2.083 trillion which represents 29 percent of the total budget.

It targets three percent GDP growth and 11.95 percent inflation rate

However, with the increase of the total budget size, the capital expenditure is now N4.125 trillion.

The sum of N3.324 trillion was earmarked for debt service and the sum of N5.641 trillion was voted for recurrent (non-debt expenditure).