N'Assembly Passes 2020 Budget, Increases Estimates by N264bn

We will study the differentials, says presidency Analysts upbeat on implementation

The National Assembly yesterday passed the 2020 budget submitted to it by President Muhammadu Buhari, increasing his N10.33 trillion estimates by N264 billion to arrive at N10.59 trillion.

The two chambers of the assembly at separate sittings considered, clause by clause, the report submitted by their Appropriation Committees before finally passing the budget.

The passed estimates, which saw the annual statutory allocation to the National Assembly being jacked up from N125 billion to N128 billion, would thereafter be transmitted to the president for his assent before the end of December.

The passage of the budget is in keeping with the assembly's major legislative agenda of returning the country’s budget cycle to a more predictable

one as well as stabilising the economy.

The passage of the annual 2020 budget before the end of the 2019 fiscal year by the legislature signals the country’s return to a January-December budget cycle after decades of its disruption.

A breakdown of the N10.594 trillion approved for the 2020 fiscal year shows that N560,470,827,235 is for statutory transfers, N2,725,498,930,000 for Debt Service; N4,842,974,600,640 for Recurrent (NonDebt) Expenditure; and N2,465,418,006,955 for Contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending on December 31, 2020 with the budget having a fiscal deficit of N2.2 trillion and Deficit/Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 1.52 per cent.

The budget is predicated on crude oil production of 2.18mbpd as proposed by the Executive; Oil Price benchmark of 57 dollar per barrel as against US$55 proposed by the Executive; Exchange Rate of N305 to US$1; Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Inflation Rate of 2.93 percent and 10.81 per cent respectively.

Capital Expenditure for Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government (MDAs) for the 2020 fiscal year are: Ministry of Defence N116,181,290,730; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, N7,608,141,474; Ministry of Information and Culture, N7,555,803,233; Ministry of Interior, N34,035,825,302; Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, N1,722,796,040; Ministry of Police Affairs, N15,959,986,864; Ministry of Communication Technology, N5,919,002,554; and Office of the National Security Adviser, N27,418,469,323.