The National Assembly passed the 2024 budget on Saturday after most lawmakers approved an addition of N1.2tn to the original budget submitted in November by President Bola Tinubu.
The budget was raised to N28.7 trillion from N27.5 trillion after arguments that the increase resulted from a request for additional funding items 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 federal government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The Assembly members voted to pass the increase of the budget by N1.2 trillion after considering a report presented by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Ogun West) and the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi (APC, Kano).
On behalf of the Senate, Olamilekan recommended that N1.7 trillion be approved for statutory transfers and N8.2 trillion 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 against N750/USD proposed by the President, while the oil production benchmark is projected at 1.78mbpd at USD77.96 per barrel.
The GDP growth rate is estimated 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 the debt service cost and extend the repayment period of existing loans.
In making the request, the President said the interest rate for the securitized Ways and Means advances be reduced to 9% pa, 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.