The Upper Legislative Chamber, on Wednesday, May 16, passed the long-awaited 2018 Appropriation Bill into law, following the consideration and adoption of the report by the Joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriation.
Recall, that the 2018 budget was laid before the Senate, on Tuesday, while the Lawmakers considered and adopted it at an extended plenary, on Wednesday.
The same version of the bill was earlier presented in the House of Representatives and passed.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had on November 7, 2017, presented the sum of N8.612 trillion, but the National Assembly raised the estimate to N9.12 trillion.
In the President’s estimates, the recurrent expenditure was captured as N3.494 ttrillion, but in the new report, it was raised to N3.516 trillion.
Similarly, the development fund for capital expenditure was raised to N2.869 trillion, from the N2.652 trillion proposed by the President, on November 7.
The provision for statutory transfers also rose to N530.421 billion, from N456 billion.
Debt servicing provision rose to N2.203 trillion from N2.014 trillion. The new figure includes the N190 billion for the “Sinking Fund.”
However, the naira/dollar exchange rate was retained at N305 to $1.
The daily crude oil production was also retained at 2.2 million barrels.
- Post-Nigeria however, gathered that the passage sparked widespread jubilation across the country, as it will facilitate the immediate release of funds to stimulate the economy when the President appends his signature.
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