Fred Itua, Abuja
The Federal Government has earmarked N9.12 trillions for the 2020 fiscal year.
The document sighted by the Daily Sun, yesterday, put the total revenue available to the Federal Government is N7.17 trillion.
The National Assembly confirmed receipt of the Medium Term expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) from President Muhammadu Buhari.
President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives made the disclosure.
Reading President Muhammed Buhari’s letter at plenary, Lawan said President Buhari was happy with the effort of lawmakers towards ensuring a cordial working relationship between the legislature and executive arms of government.
The letter reads: “It is with pleasure that I hereby submit the 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) to the Senate.
“Let me use this medium to express my gratitude for the much improved partnership between the legislative and the executive arms of the Federal government in our goal of making the budget process deliver better outcomes for the Nigerian people in particular.
“I note with further appreciation, the commitment and support that Distinguished Senators have continued to demonstrate. Pursuant to the provision of the fiscal responsibility Act 2007,the preparation towards the submission of the 2020 budget to the National Assembly is progressing well.
“The MTEF/FSP was prepared taking into account, key development of the global and domestic environments. We have endeavoured to ensure that forecasted revenues are realistic, but also reasonably challenging in the face of our significantly constrained fiscal space.
“Planned spending has been set at prudent and sustainable levels consistent with governments overall developmental objectives as set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
“Given our shared objective of returning the budget to a predictable January – December fiscal year, with effect from 2020,I hereby forward the 2020/2022 FSP to the Distinguished Senate and trust that it would be extensively considered in order to facilitate the 2020 MTEF budget preparation.”
The submission is coming barely 24 hours after Lawan complained that the upper legislative chamber was still awaiting the MTEF/FSP documents.
The document seen by Daily Sun showed that the aggregate fiscal deficit will be N2.28 trillion, which is 1.59 per cent of Gross Domestic Products (GDP). It is believed to be within the 3 per cent threshold.
“The FGN’s expenditure budget is estimated at N9.12 trillion (this includes grants and donor funth of N36.39 bmion). This is slightly higher than the 2019 of N8.92 trillion.
“Interest payments on debt is estimated at N245 trillion and while provision for sinking fund to retire mating bonds to local contractors is N296 billion. The provisions for personnel cost and pension costs are estimated at N267 billion and N536.72 billion respectively,” the document showed.
In addition, N40.17 billion (representing 1 per cent of the consolidated revenue fund) has been earmarked for the Basic Heatth Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), N22.73 billion for GAVI/Routine immunization in the service-wide votes (SWV), and N89.44 billion for the power sector reform programme”
The document further revealed: “With these provisions, only the sum of N101 trillion (exclusive of capital in statutory transfers) is available as amount for Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) capital expenditure. With the inclusion of capital in statutory transfers, capital supplementation, and grant and donor funded projects, as well as Multilateral, Bilateral project-tied loans of N328.13 billion, the capital expenditure amounts to N2.17 trillion.
“Wth the inclusion of the planned expenditure of the top 10 government owned enterprises of N553.14 billion, the proposed aggregate expenditure rises to an estimate of N10.00 trillion. With the inclusion of the capital estimated at N188 billion, aggregate capital expenditure (inclusive of capital in statutory transfers) is estimated at N2.17 trillion.”