Members of the National Assembly (NASS) will be convening an emergency meeting on Thursday to begin discussions on the revised 2020 budget as well as the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) recently approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
BusinessDay understands that the need to give expedited attention to the budget- five months into the year – necessitated the National Assembly to cut short its break. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives had adjourned to observe the Eid-el-Fitr and were to resume on June 2nd.
The sudden resumption by the lawmakers to commence debate on the Appropriation (Amendment) Bill 2020 already sent to them by President Buhari was confirmed by Mohammed Sani-Omolori, Clerk to the National Assembly (NASS) in a statement issued in Abuja.
“This is to inform all Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members that resumption of Plenary Session earlier scheduled for Tuesday 2nd June 2020, has been rescheduled for Thursday, 28 May 2020, to enable Members to consider the Appropriation (Amendment) Bill, 2020,” he said in the mailed note.
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“All Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members are expected to resume in Plenary by 10.00 are on Thursday, 28th May 2020,” he stated.
The federal government is revising its record N10.59 trillion 2020 budget as COVID-19 realities coupled with slumped oil prices take a toll on revenues, rendering all the assumptions unrealistic.
As contained in the recent adjustments approved by FEC, the revised budget contains planned spending about N10.523 trillion, indicating about N71.5 billion slash when compared to the earlier approved budget.
The federal government has had to slash crude oil benchmark price to $25 per barrel, put crude oil production at 1.94 million barrels per day, and exchange rate at N360/$.
“This is because, as we cut down the size of the budget, we also have to bring in new expenditure previously not budgeted, to enable us adequately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning had explained.
In the revised budget, the federal government projects some N5.158 trillion direct revenue.
The deficit is put at N5.365 trillion to be financed by both domestic- including privatization proceeds as well as foreign borrowings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Islamic Development Bank as well as
The foreign borrowing we are doing for 2020 are all concessionary loans from the IMF which has already been approved and has crystallized, from the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank as well as the Afreximbank.
The government also hopes to drawdown on previously committed loans for major ongoing projects from both existing facilities as well as some special accounts with the president’s approval and the National Assembly.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Barau Jibrin confirmed that the Senate has received copies of the revised 2020 budget from the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning and assured they will give it an accelerated passage.
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