President Muhammadu Buhari will on Friday October 7, present and lay before the two chambers of the National Assembly, the N19.76 trillion budget proposal for the 2023 financial year.
This was disclosed in a letter from Buhari, read both by Ahmad Lawan, president of the Senate and Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House at resumed plenary on Tuesday.
“This is to inform the House that I will on 10:00 am on Friday, 7th October 2022, formally present the 2023 appropriation bill to a joint session of the National Assembly. Please accept Mr Speaker the assurances of my highest regards. I look forward to addressing the joint session,” the letter read.
In his comments after reading the letter Gbajabiamila said the decision to present the budget Friday followed the meeting between the lawmakers and minister of finance last Friday with a view for an early presentation.
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While urging his colleagues to be present on that day, the Speaker said: “This was as result of our meeting last Friday with minister of finance, with a view for an early presentation of the budget. Even though Friday is not a legislative sitting day, we felt it’s ok to save us time.”
On his part, Lawan said the president would appear in person to address the joint session of the National Assembly as against the earlier fears that there might be no space to accommodate the session due to the ongoing renovations.
BusinessDay had earlier reported that
the federal government plans to spend N19.76 trillion in 2023, a 15.37 percent increase from the amount earmarked in the 2022 budget.
The projected deficit for the 2023 budget stands at N11.30 trillion, 54 percent higher than the previous budget’s estimated deficit, as the government digs in on a controversial petrol subsidy set to gulp N3.36 trillion in the first six months of the year.
The government is also projecting a total revenue of N8.46 trillion, out of which N1.9 trillion is expected to come from oil-related sources while the balance is to come from non-oil sources.
Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, had said
at the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) interaction with the House of Representatives Committee on Finance in Abuja
