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The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma has revealed that about N7.9 trillion is being budgeted for 2018. This is about N500 billion or 6% more than the N7.44 trillion budgeted for 2017.
The budget is benchmarked against a crude oil price of $45 per barrel and production of 2.3 million barrels per day. The Ministry says it will aim to present the Budget estimates to the National Assembly in October.
As reported by Thisday,the Minister of Budget and National Planning gave this information during an interactive session with top government officials, civil society organisations and Organised Private Sector (OPS) on the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
The MTEF outlines the federal government’s fiscal policies and our macroeconomic projections for the next three years from 2018 to 2020 and it provides the broad framework for the 2018 budget, the minister noted.
Other key parameters of the budget include the fact that is based on an exchange rate of N305/$; 12.42% inflation rate; a 4.8% GDP growth rate; a nominal GDP of N133.97 trillion and nominal consumption estimated at N81.60 trillion. The fiscal deficit is expected to rise to N2.77 trillion in 2018 from the current N2.35 trillion.
In defence of nation’s current debt profile, the minister noted that the nation is still within the threshold approved by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007, and that there was no need for Nigerians to panic about the country’s debt burden.
We are maintaining our deficit and debts within sustainable limits. Debt financing will be restructured gradually in favour of foreign financing as part of a strategy to lower debt service burden and free up more fiscal space for the private sector, he added.
While speaking on its early submission, the minister remarked that the early submission of the budget to the legislature would provide the lawmakers enough time to consider the fiscal document and ensure its early passage.
Inflation, revenue and expenditure projections
- Inflation rate of 12.42 %
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 4.8 %
- Nominal GDP of N133.97 trillion.
Projected revenues;
In terms of revenue projections, the minister said that the government was targeting N5.16 trillion for 2018 as against N5.08 trillion in 2017, a 1.6% rise.
- Oil revenue of N2.1 trillion,
- Non-oil revenue of N1.36 trillion,
- Dividend from Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas of N29.58 billion,
- Minerals and mining revenue of N1.06 billion.
- Independent revenue from agencies of government of N847.9 billion,
- Domestic recoveries and fines of N364 billion,
- Other federal government recoveries of N138.43 billion and grants and
- Donor funding of N281.6 billion.
Expenditure:
- N2.63 trillion is to be spent on non-debt recurrent expenditure,
- N350 billion has been set aside for special intervention programmes.
- N2.4 trillion would be spent on capital projects implementation compared to N2.17 trillion in 2017.
