President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday formally presented a N7.28 trillion federal government budget for 2017 to the joint session of the National Assembly for approval.
President Buhari speaking a joint session of National Assembly during budget presentation
Christened the “Budget of Recovery & Growth”, President Muhammadu Buhari said the N7.28 billion budget was higher than the N6.07 trillion 2016 Appropriation by about 19.95 per cent.
Below is the total breakdown;
Budget size: N7.298tn
Assumptions, projections
- Benchmark crude oil price – $42.5 per barrel
- Oil production estimate – 2.2 million barrels per day
- Average exchange rate – N305 to the US dollar
- Aggregate revenue available to fund the federal budget is N4.94tn
- Deficit – N2.36tn (about 2.18% of GDP)
- The deficit will be financed mainly by borrowing which is projected to be about N2.32tn.
- N067tn of borrowing will be sourced from external sources while, N1.254tn will be borrowed from the domestic market.
Expenditure Estimates
The proposed aggregate expenditure of N7.298tn will comprise:
1. Statutory transfers – N419.02bn
2. Debt service – N1.66tn
3. Sinking fund – N177.46bn (to retire certain maturing bonds)
4. Non-debt recurrent expenditure – N2.98tn
5. Capital expenditure of N2.24tn (including capital in Statutory Transfers)
Recurrent Expenditure
A significant portion of recurrent expenditure has been provisioned for the payment of salaries and overheads in institutions that provide critical public services. The budgeted amounts for these items are:
1. N37bn for the Ministry of Interior
2. N01bn for Ministry of Education
3. N87bn for Ministry of Defence
4. N87bn for Ministry of Health.
Capital Expenditure: N2.24tn (30.7% of total budget) - These capital provisions are targeted at priority sectors and projects.
Key capital spending provisions in the Budget include the following:
1. Power, Works and Housing: N529bn;
2. Transportation: N262bn;
3. Special Intervention Programmes:
4. Defence: N140bn;
5. Water Resources: N85bn;
6. Industry, Trade and Investment: N81bn;
7. Interior: N63bn;
8. Education N50bn
9. Universal Basic Education Commission: N92bn
10. Health: N51bn
11. Federal Capital Territory: N37bn
12. Niger Delta Ministry: N33bn
13. Niger Delta Development Commission: N61bn
- N100bn provided in the Special Intervention programme as seed money into the N1tn Family Homes Fund that will underpin a new social housing programme.
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- N14bn allocated as counterpart funding for the Lagos-Kano, Calabar-Lagos, Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Warri railway, and Kaduna-Abuja railway projects.
Statutory Transfers
Budgetary allocation to the Judiciary increased from N70bn to N100bn (to enhance the independence and efficiency of the judiciary)
Credits: Punch