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Nigerian Senate passes 2020 National budget 

Emmanuel Abara Benson
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The Nigerian Senate, on Thursday, December 5th, 2019, passed the 2020 National Budget of N10.59 trillion. This is Nigeria’s most ambitious budget to date. It is also not surprising that it includes a deficit of N2.18 trillion, which is about 1.52% of the estimated gross domestic product.

According to Reuters, the Nigerian government will possibly have to borrow money from the international debt market in order to finance the 2020 budget. The country’s economy has been struggling to fully recover, following a destabilising 2015 recession.

Recall that Nairametrics reported that the Nigerian government plans to primarily source funding to finance the budget from oil (N2.64 trillion), Non-oil (N1.81 trillion), and others (N3.7 trillion).

Earlier in September, Nigeria approached the World Bank to borrow the sum of $2.5 billion to facilitate the budget. Although the country will most likely receive the loan once negotiations are finalised, the truth remains that it will not be enough to meet the deficit that has been highlighted above.

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The government is also exploring various means available to internally generate revenue. Recently, there has been an increase in VAT, even as revenue targets for various government agencies have been increased.

[READ MORE: UPDATED: Senate passes Finance Bill]

In the meantime, initial breakdown of the 2020 National Budget showed what the budgeted amount would be spent on.

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