President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday formally presented a N7.28 trillion federal government budget for 2017 to the joint session of the National Assembly for approval.
President Buhari speaking a joint session of National Assembly during budget presentation
Christened the “Budget of Recovery & Growth”, President Muhammadu Buhari said the N7.28 billion budget was higher than the N6.07 trillion 2016 Appropriation by about 19.95 per cent.
Below is the total breakdown;
Budget size: N7.298tn
Assumptions, projections
Benchmark crude oil price – $42.5 per barrel
Oil production estimate – 2.2 million barrels per day
Average exchange rate – N305 to the US dollar
Aggregate revenue available to fund the federal budget is N4.94tn
Deficit – N2.36tn (about 2.18% of GDP)
The deficit will be financed mainly by borrowing which is projected to be about N2.32tn.
N067tn of borrowing will be sourced from external sources while, N1.254tn will be borrowed from the domestic market.
Expenditure Estimates
The proposed aggregate expenditure of N7.298tn will comprise:
1. Statutory transfers – N419.02bn
2. Debt service – N1.66tn
3. Sinking fund – N177.46bn (to retire certain maturing bonds)
4. Non-debt recurrent expenditure – N2.98tn
5. Capital expenditure of N2.24tn (including capital in Statutory Transfers)
Recurrent Expenditure
A significant portion of recurrent expenditure has been provisioned for the payment of salaries and overheads in institutions that provide critical public services. The budgeted amounts for these items are:
1. N37bn for the Ministry of Interior
2. N01bn for Ministry of Education
3. N87bn for Ministry of Defence
4. N87bn for Ministry of Health.
Capital Expenditure: N2.24tn (30.7% of total budget) - These capital provisions are targeted at priority sectors and projects.
Key capital spending provisions in the Budget include the following:
1. Power, Works and Housing: N529bn;
2. Transportation: N262bn;
3. Special Intervention Programmes:
4. Defence: N140bn;
5. Water Resources: N85bn;
6. Industry, Trade and Investment: N81bn;
7. Interior: N63bn;
8. Education N50bn
9. Universal Basic Education Commission: N92bn
10. Health: N51bn
11. Federal Capital Territory: N37bn
12. Niger Delta Ministry: N33bn
13. Niger Delta Development Commission: N61bn
N100bn provided in the Special Intervention programme as seed money into the N1tn Family Homes Fund that will underpin a new social housing programme.
N14bn allocated as counterpart funding for the Lagos-Kano, Calabar-Lagos, Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Warri railway, and Kaduna-Abuja railway projects.
Statutory Transfers
Budgetary allocation to the Judiciary increased from N70bn to N100bn (to enhance the independence and efficiency of the judiciary)
COMMENTS