The Senate has approved the sum of N28.7 trillion as the 2024 appropriation bill.
The Bill which was passed by the Senate after also considering and approving the report of the joint committee on Appropriation on Saturday indicates an increase by over N1.2 trillion from the N27.5 trillion appropriation which President Bola Tinubu laid before the joint sitting of the National Assembly on November 29.
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In summary, the Senate approved the Bill for an Act to authorize the issuance from the Consolidated Revenue Fund an aggregate expenditure of N28.777, 404, 073, 861 which includes N1.7 trillion for statutory transfers. N8.76 trillion for recurrent expenditure, N9.99 trillion for capital expenditure, and N8.27 trillion for debt service. The Gross Domestic Product was set at 3.88% .
Olamilekan Adeola, Chairman, committee on Appropriation while presenting the report of the Committee informed that most of the sub committees during budget defence complained of inadequate funds and decline in budgetary allocation to Ministries, Departments and Agencies under their purview in addition to the rising costs in the polity amd the continous devalue of naira.
He also disclosed that the executive forwarded request for additional funding and some items of Expenditure to the committee which were not included in the bill the President had submitted.
In order to accommodate the request, he said the committee made adjustments onForeign exchange differential, Government Owned Enteeprises (GOE) revenue increased, GOE personnel reduction , Service wide vote wage adjustment , and a reduction from service wide.
In preparing details of the 2024 Appropriation Bill, the Committee adopted the Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) approved by the National Assembly which includes basic assumptions and parameters for the 2024 fiscal year
Crude oil price was pegged at $77.96 per barrel, crude oil production at 1.78 million barrels per day. The NASS approved an increase in the exchange rate to $ 800/$1 as against N750/ $1 rate proposed by the executive.
A GDP Growth Rate of 3.88% and Budget Deficit 9.18 Trillion was also approved by the National Assembly.
Details later…