The Senate has approved the 2024 budget for a third reading, increasing the bill by a total of N1.2 trillion, elevating the budget from N27.5 trillion to N28.7 trillion. The passage followed a voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who also considered the report of the Appropriation Bill presented by Senator Adeola Solomon, Chairman of the Appropriation Committee.
The breakdown of the approved budget includes Aggregate Expenditure at N28,777,404,073,861; Statutory Transfers at N1,742,786,788,150; Recurrent Expenditure at N8,768,533,030,852; Capital Expenditure at N9,995,143,298,028, and GDP at 3.88%.
President Bola Tinubu had presented a total of N27.5 trillion to the National Assembly on November 29, 2023, and pegged the budget deficit for the fiscal year at N9.18 trillion, representing 3.88% of Nigeria’s GDP.
The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totaling N7.83 trillion, N298.49 billion from Privatization Proceeds, and N1.05 trillion drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.
The National Assembly had passed the budget for a second reading on December 1, with the expectation of final approval on Saturday.