Buhari presents N8.83 trillion budget for 2019

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday formally presented N8.83 trillion federal government budget for 2019 to the joint session of the National Assembly for approval.

The 2019 budget is about N27 billion lower than the 2018 budget of N9.1 trillion.

Details of the proposed budget showed that it was based on crude oil benchmark price of $60 per barrel of oil and 2.3 million barrels per day.

Buhari pointed out that the budget is further predicated on an exchange rate of N305 to $1, a real Gross Domestic Growth of 3.01 per cent and inflation rate of 9.98 per cent.

The proposed budget shows that about a quarter of the sum (N2.14 trillion) will be used for debt servicing while capital expenditure is expected to gulp N2.031 trillion.

Further breakdown presented by the president shows that proposed recurrent expenditure is N4.04 trillion, statutory transfer is N492.36 billion, there is a sinking fund of N120 billion, while capital expenditure is N2.031 trillion.