The Senate has passed the 2024 budget for third reading, and in a significant move, the bill has been augmented by a total of N1.2tn, resulting in an increase from N27.5tn to N28.7tn.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio facilitated the passage of the budget through a voice vote.
Before reaching this stage, the Senate deliberated on the Appropriation Bill report presented by Senator Adeola Solomon, the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee.
The approved budget outlines key financial allocations, with Aggregate Expenditure set at 28,777,404,073,861; Statutory Transfers at 1,742,786,788,150; Recurrent Expenditure at 8,768,533,030,852; Capital Expenditure at 9,995,143,298,028, and a GDP projection of 3.88%.
Bola Tinubu had initially presented a N27.5tn budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on November 29. Tinubu disclosed a budget deficit of N9.18tn for the 2024 fiscal year, equivalent to 3.88% of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP).
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Explaining further, Tinubu stated, “The N9.18 trillion deficit is lower than the N13.78 trillion deficit recorded in 2023, which represents 6.11 per cent of GDP.” He clarified that the deficit would be covered by new borrowings totaling N7.83tn, N298.49BN from Privatization Proceeds, and a drawdown of 1.05 trillion naira on multilateral and bilateral loans earmarked for specific development projects.