CSO: 2018 budget MTEF unrealistic

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF 2018-2020) for the proposed N7.9trillion 2018 budget was not achievable and falls short of standard.

The Lead Director of the centre, Eze Onyekpere said yesterday in a statement that beyond the slides presented by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, details of the assumptions behind the budget parameters have not been made public.

He said good practices demand that the consultation paper should have been in the public domain not less than two weeks before the consultation, to give Nigerians the opportunity to study, understand and respond.

According to him, the proposal to spend N7.9trillion in 2018 is 6 percent above the 2017 appropriation. “The increase would have been a welcome development if we are very sure of the sources of its financing or if we are not banking on a good dose of deficit financing. However, it is affirmed that Nigeria needs more than this sum to meet its pressing developmental needs, especially in the infrastructure terrain considering the paucity of investors and public private partnerships,” Onyekpere said.

On the Oil production and the benchmark, he said the decision to fix the oil production at 2.3million barrels a day shows the nation’s continued fixation with oil rents, as it amounts to an increase from the 2.2 million approved in 2017.