Senate increases 2024 Budget by 1.2trn as the bill passed into law

The senate on Saturday passed the 2024 appropriation bill to be forwarded to the executive.

The upper house increased the size of the budget from the proposed N27.5 trillion presented to it by President Bola Tinubu to N28.7 trillion, an increase of N1.2 trillion.

Senator Solomon Olamilekan, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, had presented his committee’s report for consideration during Saturday’s sitting.

After its consideration for third reading, the upper house topped the budget by N1.2.trillion.

The budget passed has N1.7 trillion as statutory transfers, N8.7 trillion as recurrent expenditure, and N9.9 trillion as capital expenditure.

The increase the Senate said is for statutory transfers of N1.7 trillion, N8.7 trillion as recurrent expenditure, and N9.9 trillion as capital expenditure.

Tinubu had presented the budget before the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday, November 29.

The President had pegged the budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year at N9.18 trillion, representing 3.88 per cent of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP).

He had explained before the joint session that, “The N9.18 trillion deficit is lower than the “N13.78 trillion naira deficit recorded in 2023 which represents 6.11 per cent of GDP.

“The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totalling N7.83 trillion, N298.49BN from Privatization Proceeds and 1.05 trillion naira drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.”

The budget had passed the second reading on the floor of the Senate on Friday, December 1, before being referred to the committee and its eventual passage on Saturday.