Buhari jacks up 2017 Budget to N7.281trn

Instead of the N6.866 trillion budget he earlier proposed for 2017 under the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), President Muham­madu Buhari has raised it to N7.281 trillion.

Buhari will present the Appropriation Bill to the joint session of the Nation­al Assembly on December 14, 2016.

The details of the new budget showed that the Fed­eral Government pegged the naira exchange rate at N305 to the dollar.

The rejigged budget is N420 billion higher than the previous one. Placed against the 2016 Budget, the 2017 Budget represents an increase of 19.95 percent. The 2016 budget was N6.07 trillion.

A breakdown of the 2017 Budget shows that capital expenditure attracts N2.078 trillion while re­current expenditure takes N2.9 trillion.

The 2017 capital and re­current expenditures rose against the 2016 appropria­tion of N1.8 trillion and N2.65 trillion respectively by 15.44% and 9.43%, respectively.

The exchange rate is pegged at N305 to $1 as against 2016 exchange rate of N197 to $1.

Buhari placed oil bench­mark at $42.5 per barrel (pb) while oil production level is put at 2.2 million per day.

The crude oil benchmark for the 2016 Budget was $38 per barrel while production level was 2.2 million barrels per day.

However, production level nosedived to 1.9 million bar­rels per day following mili­tants’ activities in the Niger Delta during the outgoing year.

While the Federal Govern­ment did not make any provi­sion in the 2017 Budget for a new minimum wage or sala­ry increment for government workers, it however, retained the Social Intervention Pro­gramme of N500 billion.

Buhari had in a letter ad­dressed to the Senate Presi­dent, Abubakar Bukola Sara­ki, which was read at Tuesday’s plenary, sought the indulgence of the leadership of the Na­tional Assembly to address its joint session on the above sub­ject-matter.

The letter read in part: “I crave the kind indulgence of the National Assembly to grant me a slot on Wednesday, the 14th of December, 2016 to formally address a joint ses­sion of the National Assem­bly on the 2017 Budget pro­posal and our plans to get the country out of recession.

“Please extend Mr. Senate President, the assurances of my highest regards to the dis­tinguished senators, as I look forward to addressing the joint session.”

Buhari had in his MTEF and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) proposed an estimat­ed N6.866 trillion budget for 2017 fiscal year.

The MTEF and FSP also projected $42.5 oil benchmark and an exchange rate of N290 to $1 and oil production of 2.2 million barrel per day.

The Federal Government also projected N6.847 trillion and N7.117 trillion budgets, respectively for 2018 and 2019. It also proposed $45 per barrel and $50 per barrel oil bench­mark for 2018 and 2019, re­spectively.

The government as well proposed 2.3 million per bar­rel and 2.4 million per bar­rel oil production volume for 2018 and 2019 respective­ly just as it projected the ex­change rate of N290 to $1 ex­change rate for 2018 and 2019, respectively.

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