President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that various loot recoveries running to the tune of N512.4 billion will be deployed to funding the 2018 Budget. The administration also plans to finance the budget through new borrowings estimated at N1.699 trillion. Fifty per cent of this borrowing will be sourced externally, whilst the balance will be sourced domestically.
The Federal Government is also targeting N306 billion from proceeds of privatisation of some non-oil assets by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to finance the budget deficit. The President made the disclosure yesterday while presenting a N8.612 trillion proposed budget for 2018, which he said will reinforce and build on the recent accomplishments of his administration. The N8.612 trillion is an increase of 16 per cent on the 2017 budget.
Buhari, who presented the budget, tagged “Budget of Consolidation”, before a joint session of the National Assembly, said the proposed budget will also sustain the reflationary policies of 2016 and 2017 budgets and deliver on Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2018 – 2020. In the budget speech that lasted for one hour two minutes, the President lamented the late passage of the 2017 Budget, which he noted has significantly affected its implementation. He, therefore, appealed to the lawmakers to ensure to pass the budget by January 1, 2018, to enable the nation return to the January-December calendar.
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