Buhari presents N7.298 trillion 2017 budget to National Assembly

 

 

President Muhammad Buhari has presented N2.798 trillion 2017 budget to National Assembly today in Abuja for approval.
The budget titled, “Budget of Recovery & Growth” has a benchmark of $42.5 per barrel of oil, as against $38 in 2016.
In his speech, Buhari said the budget was higher than the N6.07 trillion 2016 Appropriation by about 19.95 per cent.
Details of the proposed budget showed that it was based on crude oil benchmark price of $42.5 per barrel, against the benchmark price of $38 per barrel used in the 2016 budget.
Daily crude oil production estimate was put at about 2.2 million barrels per day, same as the figure in last year’s budget, while the exchange rate was put at N305 to the dollar as against N197 to the dollar in 2016.
Further details of the proposed budget showed that government proposed to spend about N2.243 trillion on capital projects and N2.9 trillion as recurrent expenditure.
The 2017 proposed capital and recurrent expenditures were higher than the N1.8 trillion and N2.65 trillion respectively provided in the 2016 Appropriation, representing about 15.44 ‎and 9.43 per cent respectively.
About N1.66 trillion has been allocated for servicing of domestic debts, for which N1.3 trillion earmarked in the 2016 budget, with foreign debt expected to take about N175.9 billion as against N54.5 billion last year.
The President gave the assurance that there will be no such thing as budget padding in the document.
He condemned what he termed injecting rogue projects and figures into the financial document, saying it is unfair to Nigerians and detrimental to the growth of the economy.