FG To Finance 2021 Budget Of N12.6tn By N4.3tn Loan
The federal government had proposed N12.6 trillion as aggregate budget for the 2021 fiscal year.
The proposed budget will have a deficit of N5.16 trillion and will be partly financed by a total loan package of N4.28 trillion.
The proposals were contained in the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday.
The proposal targets N481.41 billion as statutory transfers, N5.75 trillion as recurrent expenditure, N3.33 trillion for capital expenditure and N3.12 trillion for debt servicing.
Key assumptions of the expenditure framework shows that the federal government fixed $40 as oil benchmark, targets 1.86 million barrels as oil production per day while the exchange rate was pegged at N360 to a dollar. Inflation was fixed at 11.9 percent.
Also included in the proposals are N500 billion intervention fund against COVID-19 pandemic, N52 billion for public works programme, N32.5 billion for social intervention programme, #5 billion as bailout for the aviation sector and #60 billion for maintenance of roads through direct labour across the six geopolitical zones.
Aside the N4.3 trillion loan, the FG targets the sum of N205.2 billion from privatisation proceeds to fund the budget.
In the letter accompanying the documents, the President said he is sending the proposal early so the federal lawmakers would have enough time to review it.
“I herewith forward the 2021-2023 MTEF/FSP as the 2021 budget of the federal government will be prepared based on the parameters and fiscal assumptions of the approved 2021-2023 MTEF/FSP. I seek the cooperation of the National Assembly for expeditious legislative action on the submission, ” the letter read in part.
