Senate begins debate on N8.612trn 2018 Budget next week
The Senate on Thursday indicated resolve to commence debate on the general principles of the N8.612trillion 2018 Budget beginning from mid next week, a move aimed towards early passage of the budget.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki made this known during the plenary, telling his colleagues to get prepared as “Debate on the general principles of the 2018 budget has been slated for Wednesday and Thursday next week”.
The Senate President, however urged Senators who wished to give talks on the budget to indicate interest ahead of the days by registering their names’.
This is coming against the backdrop of inability of the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper ( FSP) earlier forwarded to it for approval by the President, some weeks earlier.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday last week presented the 2018 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly appealing to the lawmakers to accord it a speedy consideration and passage.
While presenting the budget, President Buhari told the lawmakers that a total sum of N8.612 trillion 2018 budget had been proposed representing 16% increase on the N7.44trillion 2017 budget.
He said, out of aggregate expenditure of N8.612trillion proposed as 2018 budget profile N2.014trillion is set aside for debt servicing aside N2.005trillion deficit in the budget to be financed by external borrowing and proceeds from privatized government establishments.
Other highlights of the budget named by the President as Budget of consolidation are N3.494trillion earmarked for recurrent expenditure, N2.652trillion for capital expenditure, N456billion for statutory transfer.
The budgetary proposals are based on key parameters such as $45 per barrel oil price benchmark, projected oil production of 2.3m barrels per day, exchange rate of N305 to a US dollar, Real GDP growth of 3.5 percent; and Inflation Rate of 12.4 percent.
Buhari also told the lawmakers that the sum of N11.983 trillion is estimated to be the total collectible revenues for the federation in the fiscal year out of which the sum of N6.387 trillion is expected to be realised from oil and gas sources, while total receipts from the non-oil sector are projected at N 5.597 trillion .
He disclosed that the total estimated revenue for the federal government in the projected N8.612 trillion 2018 budget is N6.607 trillion which according to him is about 30 percent more than the 2017 target.
Olufemi Samuel, Abuja
