Mohammed Shosanya
President Bola Tinubu,will next Tuesday, present a N47.9trillion budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.
The development follows the Senate passage of the 2024–2026 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) for implementation by the Federal Government.
At the plenary session on Thursday, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio urged all Senators to be in the Red Chamber at 10.30a.m from where they would proceed to the Green Chamber in the House of Representatives for the joint session of budget presentation.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC), on November 15, approved N47.9trn for the 2025 budget.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, disclosed this in a briefing to State House media after the FEC meeting.
According to him,the council approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, for 2025-2027, adding that the government pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel and oil production at 2.06 million barrels per day.
The proposed 2025 budget will have an exchange rate pegged at N1,400 to $1, and the government is targeting a GDP growth of 6.4%,he said.
He added: “And equally, the fiscal objectives were conservative, because we want to ensure that we study the course much as we believe the projections will be exceeded.
“The budget size approved for presentation to the National Assembly in the MTEP is N47.9 trillion, with new borrowings of N9.2 trillion to finance the budget deficit in 2025.
“We need to sustain the commendable market deregulation of petroleum prices and exchange rates, compel the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited to lower its oil and gas production cost significantly, and even consider amending the relevant sections of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 to address the significant risk to Federation.”
“The Federal Executive Council approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and the Fiscal Strategy Paper, which will be submitted to the National Assembly.
“In addition to bills already at the National Assembly, the economic stabilisation bills and tax reform bills, which we believe will have a robust growth in 2025.”
