Expenditure in 2024 budget projected to hit N26tn

The Federal Government, on Monday, said it is projecting N26.01tn as expenses for the 2024 fiscal year.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, told State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

This is as the government approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for 2024 – 2026.

Bagudu affirmed that the administration would maintain the January – December budget implementation cycle as President Bola Tinubu would soon present the 2024 appropriation bill to the National Assembly to ensure its ratification before December 31, 2023.

The statement reads, “The aggregate expenditure is estimated at N26.01tn for the 2024 budget, which includes statutory transfers of N1.3tn non-debt recurrent expenditure of N10.26tn. Debt service estimated at N8.25tn as well as N7.78tn being provided for personnel pension cost.”

Bagudu clarified the increased debt service saying it is “because N22.7tn Ways and Means was securitised, meaning it became a federal government debt at nine per cent.”

This amounts to N2.1tn as debt service.

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Equally, personnel costs rose significantly due to transfers from the agreement between the FG and the Organised Labour.

The FG also said it would present a supplementary budget given its growing obligations since the removal of petroleum subsidy.

“Yes, there would be a supplementary budget because there are continuing obligations and there are responses to security which can be immediate,” Bagudu affirmed.

He explained that the perceived delays would not truncate the January – December implementation cycle because the President is engaging with the National Assembly long before presentation day.

“Mr. President is mindful of those and is assessing them. But he is also committed to the budget process and its integrity. He wants to ensure that monies that are appropriated will be spent in the period for which they are appropriated.

“And then in terms of presentation of the budget, Mr. President has been engaging with the National Assembly leadership, even ahead of the presentation to say ‘these are our assumptions, these are our thought processes,’ so that it can reduce the lead time for which the budget has to go through such considerations.

“We believe that this budget will be presented in good time, particularly the 2024 budget to be passed and signed before December 31, 2023,” the minister explained.