“The numbers clearly show that the economy has fully exited recession. Council members were particularly pleased to note that this growth is very broad, with Agriculture growing at 4.23 percent up from 3.06 percent in the 3rd Quarter.”
Browsing: Sen. Udoma Udoma
Osinbajo said, “Going forward, we have agreed with the National Assembly leadership on the necessity to get Nigeria back onto a predictable January to December fiscal year. To achieve this, the 2018 budget needs to get to the National Assembly no later than early October so that the National Assembly can conclude work on it before the end of the year.”
Osinbajo signed the budget at about 4:41pm on Monday inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja in the presence of the principal officers of the National Assembly, presidential aides and other top government officials.
The minister gave some of the signs that the economy was on its way out of recession as marginal reduction in inflation rate which is the first in 15 months, relative stability in the foreign exchange market, steady increase in the foreign exchange reserves and renewed investor confidence which resulted into the oversubscription of the country’s $1bn Eurobond by eight times.
Specifically, the meeting was said to have resolved that projects, such as the N6.9 billon Abuja Airport rehabilitation which was provided for in the 2017 budget, should be captured in the capital aspect of the budget.
According to him, the plan is almost ready but was only being fine-tuned while last-minute consultations are to be made with organised labour. The goals of the plan, Udoma said are to ensure low inflation; diversified growth; improve business environment and attract investment; create jobs and improve social inclusion.
“Nigeria is implementing an ambitious economic reform agenda designed to deliver long-term sustainable growth and reduce reliance on oil and gas revenues while reducing waste and improving the efficiency of government expenditure,” Adeosun said of the bond.
Udoma said a total of N10tn was being targeted by the Federal Government as revenue for the 2017 fiscal year.
“Next year’s budget was also predicated on an exchange rate of N305 to a dollar. The figure was the prevailing exchange rate as at the time the 2016-19 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) was prepared in August 2016,” the official said.
