Nigeria’s President to Sign N10.8 Trillion Revised 2020 Budget Today

• Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari will sign the revised N10.8trn budget for 2020 today.
• The finance minister, Zainab Ahmed has disclosed that this is in line with plans to apply the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2021-2023.
• Ahmed, while offering an update on the execution of the 2020 budget between January and May 2020, said the government’s retained revenue was N1.48 trillion, reflecting 56 per cent of the government’s target.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari will today sign the revised N10.8trn budget for 2020, this was disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed.

Ahmed stated this yesterday while briefing National Assembly Chief Executives on plans to apply the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2021-2023 and the Fiscal Strategy Paper later this month.

She said the ministry had been instructed by the president to speed up action on next year’s budget estimates to allow him to submit it to the National Assembly by the end of September.

“This for us is a journey towards ensuring that the progress that we have made as a collective to return the fiscal year to January – December is maintained for the 2021 budget as well.

“The president has directed that we must deliver the budget to the National Assembly by the end of September,” she said.

Ahmed, while offering an update on the execution of the 2020 budget between January and May 2020, said the government’s retained revenue was N1.48 trillion, reflecting 56 per cent of the government’s target.

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She revealed that out of the revenue generated, oil revenues amounted to N701.6 billion; non-oil tax revenues N439.32 billion; corporate income tax (CIT) and VAT collections — N213.24 billion and N68.09 billion; and N158 billion customs collections, respectively.

“Other revenues amounted to N339.51 billion, of which Independent revenues was N80.22 billion. Recoveries and Stamp duty collected during the period are yet to be booked in the fiscal accounts,” Ahmed said.

She said N1.25 trillion had been spent on debt service on expenditure performance for the same period (January-May 2020), and N1.32 trillion had been spent on personnel costs, including pensions.

As of the end of May 2020, she said that only N253.33 billion had been released for capital expenditure.

When providing underlying assumptions guiding the macroeconomic parameters and priorities of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2021-2023, Ahmed reported that the Oil Price Benchmark for the fiscal year 2021 was set at USD$35; and USD$40 for 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Oil Production was placed at 1.86 for 2021, 2.09 for 2022, and 2.38 for the 2022 fiscal year; while the Exchange Rate remains at N360 to USD$1.