*President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sam Ikeotuonye 11 October 2016, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Federal Government has proposed an oil benchmark price of $42.5 per barrels for the 2017 Budget and $45 for 2018.
This is according to the 2017-2019 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper forwarded last week to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The document sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, said the government has projected benchmark price for oil at $42.5 per barrel for 2017 budget and $45 for 2018. For 2019, the figure was put at $50.
Also, the government pegged exchange rate at N290 per dollar.
Based on the document, obtained by SweetcrudeReports, the Federal Government plans to spend about N6.812 trillion during the year. The figure is about N806 billion or 13.3 per cent above this year’s total national budget of N6.06 trillion.
“It (the proposal) is also based on an average growth in employment and labour productivity, as well as an average gross fixed capital formation of 9.41 per cent of the GDP,” the document stated.
President Buhari, who explained that he was forwarding the document to the House in accordance with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, disclosed that with the arrival of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, MTEF & FSP, at the House, the 2017 budget would soon be laid before the legislature.
“Pursuant to the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, the preparation towards the submission of the 2017 budget to the National Assembly is progressing well.
“The MTEF and the FSP, which provide the framework for the development of the 2017 budget, were designed against the backdrop of the generally adverse global economic environment, as well as fiscal challenges in the domestic economy,” the document read.
It added: “Thus, the recurrent (non-debt) expenditure and capital payments are projected to increase in nominal terms by N217.42bn and N177.6bn, respectively in 2017 over the 2016 estimates”.
