FG estimates N26 trillion for the 2024 budget

In order to present the proposal to the National Assembly by December 31, 2023, the Federal Government is estimating a total of N26 trillion as the estimate for the 2024 appropriation budget.

Atiku Bagudu, the minister of planning and budget, made this announcement to reporters after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, which was presided over by President Bola Tinubu.

He announced that the council has approved the fiscal strategy papers (FSP) and medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) for 2024–2026. He was joined by his colleagues from the Ministry of Information, Mohammed Idris; the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Works and Housing, Dave Umahi; Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite; and Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong.

He reaffirmed that the Fiscal Responsibility Act requires the government to give the National Assembly with a document outlining the economy’s medium-term forecast before presenting the budget.

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He claimed that the FEC’s calculations were based on the price of crude oil at $73.96 per barrel and the exchange rate of N700 to $1.

“Now, it was presented against the backdrop of the admirable actions that have been taken since June to restore macroeconomic stability, particularly the deregulation of petroleum prices, where we maintained that subsidies have been eliminated, and in fact, the regulation of the foreign exchange market,” he said.

The implications of this and all other measures promised in the renewed hope agenda—consumer credits, mortgages, institutions that were reversed or dismissed, as well as funding the newly aligned institutional changes, particularly ministries with specific functions that are able to spur growth—were therefore discussed by the council in order to make things better for our nation.

The council members agreed that we can go on to the next round of consultation and presentation to the National Assembly after acknowledging the medium-term expenditure framework.