The Nigerian Senate has approved the 2024 budget for a third reading, with an additional appropriation of N1.2tn, bringing the total budget to N28.7tn.
The budget, initially presented by President Bola Tinubu, was passed after a voice vote led by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Before the passage, the Senate deliberated on the report of the Appropriation Bill, presented by Senator Adeola Solomon, the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee.
The revised budget now stands at an Aggregate Expenditure of N28,777,404,073,861, Statutory Transfers at N1,742,786,788,150, Recurrent Expenditure at N8,768,5330,852, Capital Expenditure at N9,995,143,298,028, and GDP at 3.88%.
Tinubu had initially presented a total of N27.5tn to a joint section of the National Assembly on November 29.
The President projected a budget deficit of N9.18tn, representing 3.88% of Nigeria’s gross domestic product.
Tinubu clarified, “The N9.18 trillion deficit is lower than the N13.78 trillion deficit recorded in 2023, which represents 6.11% of GDP. The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totalling N7.83tn, N298.49BN from Privatization Proceeds, and 1.05 trillion naira drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.”
The Senate had previously passed the budget for a second reading on December 1, and today’s approval fulfills earlier expectations of the National Assembly passing the budget by the end of the year.
