The Senate has given its nod to the 2024 budget, advancing it to the third reading with a significant increase.
The bill saw a rise of N1.2 trillion, elevating the initial budget from N27.5 trillion to N28.7 trillion.
The budget’s approval came through a voice vote presided over by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Prior to this, the Senate scrutinized the Appropriation Bill report presented by Senator Adeola Solomon, the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee.
Outlined in the approved budget are figures as follows: Aggregate Expenditure at 28,777,404,073,861; Statutory Transfers at -1,742,786,788,150; Recurrent Expenditure at 8,768,533,085,200; Capital Expenditure at 9,995,143,298,028; and a GDP estimate of 3.88%.
Previously, on November 29, President Bola Tinubu had presented a budget totaling N27.5 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly.
In his address, he highlighted the projected budget deficit for the fiscal year 2024, amounting to N9.18 trillion, equivalent to 3.88% of Nigeria’s GDP.
Tinubu emphasized, “The N9.18 trillion deficit is lower than the “N13.78 trillion naira deficit recorded in 2023 which represents 6.11 per cent of GDP.
“The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totalling N7.83tn, N298.49BN from Privatization Proceeds and 1.05 trillion naira drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.”
