Budget: Reps Approve ₦8.4tn Borrowing, ₦6.3tn Debt Service
…as Buhari presents appropriation bill to National Assembly today
The committee also recommended a crude oil benchmark price of $73 per barrel “as a result of continuous increase in the oil price in the global oil market and other peculiar situations such as continuous invasion of Ukraine by Russia as this will result in saving of N155 billion.”
While the House sustained and exchange rate of N437.57 to a United States dollar as proposed in the MTEF/FSP, the committee called for a continuous engagement between the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning “with the view to bridging the gap between the official market and parallel market.”
The lawmakers also approved a projected Gross Domestic Products growth rate of 3.75 per cent and an inflation rate of 17.16 per cent.
The committee further recommended “that the projected new borrowings of N8.437 trillion, including foreign and domestic borrowing, be approved, subject to the approval of the provision of details of the borrowing plan by the National Assembly.”
Addressing journalists after the plenary, Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Musa Abdullahi, stated that borrowing was not bad for the economy, stressing that attention should be paid to revenue generation to service the debts. He also explained the lawmakers cut down allocation to petrol subsidy.
Abdullahi partly said, “There are so many uncertainties around the payment of subsidy. So, what we decided to do was to flatten it out by making a provision of N1.7tn for subsidy payment. We are looking at some of our refineries coming up by early next year. Port Harcourt (refinery), for instance, is expected very soon.”
Meanwhile, the House, on Thursday, received the report of its Committee on Police Affairs on the proposed N65.9bn budget of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund.
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