President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has presented the Budget of Renewed Hope of N27.5tr for the 2024 fiscal year to the National Assembly.
The budget was presented on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, in a joint sitting of the National Assembly.
Presenting the budget, the president said Nigeria’s national defence and internal security, local job creation, macro-economic stability, human capital development, social security, poverty reduction and investment environment optimization are some of the top priorities of the 2024 Budget of Renewed Hope.
Tinubu said the proposed budget prioritizes human capital development, with particular attention given to children because human capital remains the most critical resource for national development.
He said a conservative oil price benchmark of 77.96 U.S. Dollars per barrel and a daily oil production estimate of 1.78 million barrels per day were adopted after a careful review of global oil market trends, and that a Naira to U.S. Dollar exchange rate of 750 naira per U.S. Dollar was adopted for 2024 as well.
A breakdown of the 2024 Appropriation Bill, indicated an aggregate expenditure of 27.5 trillion naira is proposed for the Federal Government in 2024, of which the non-debt recurrent expenditure is 9.92 trillion naira while debt service is projected to be 8.25 trillion naira and capital expenditure is 8.7 trillion naira.
“The budget deficit is projected at 9.18 trillion naira in 2024 or 3.88 percent of GDP. This is lower than the 13.78 trillion naira deficit recorded in 2023, which represented 6.11 percent of GDP. The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totaling 7.83 trillion naira, 298.49 billion naira from Privatization Proceeds, and 1.05 trillion naira draw down on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.”
“Nigeria remains committed to meeting its debt obligations. Projected debt service is 45% of the expected total revenue.”
He said the proposed budget prioritizes human capital development, with particular attention given to children, because human capital remains the most critical resource for national development.
President Tinubu said his administration remains committed to broad-based and shared economic prosperity, adding: “We are reviewing social investment programmes to enhance their implementation and effectiveness. In particular, the National Social Safety Net project will be expanded to provide targeted cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households.”
He also said efforts will be made to further contain financial leakages through the effective implementation of key public financial management reforms.
The President commended the patriotic resolve of the 10th National Assembly to collaborate with the Executive on the mission to renew the hope of Nigerians and deliver on the promises made to Africa’s largest population.