The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the 2024 appropriation bill of N27.50 trillion for the 2024 budget with a N1.5 trillion increase from earlier estimated bill.
The government had proposed N26.2 trillion earlier but had reviewed the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) that was approved by the National Assembly.
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Atiku Bagudu, announced this on Monday at the end of the FEC meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
He said that the new proposal was legitimate because all appropriation was dependent on the final process that could be changed due to many variables including new priorities and MDAs presentations.
Bagudu said that MTEF that was approved by the National Assembly put the exchange rate at N700 per dollar and oil price benchmark of 73.96 dollars.
He added that the FEC revised the MTEF to use an exchange rate of N750 to a dollar and oil price benchmark of N77.96 in order to further fund the eight priority areas of the administration.
He said that the president would give more breakdown of the budget during presentation to the National Assembly., stressing that the presentation date would be decided by the National Assembly.
The minister said that the 2024 forecast revenue would now be N18.32 trillion higher than the 2023 budget and the supplementary budgets provisions, adding that the revenue projection is also N18.32 trillion higher than in 2023.
The minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Chief Wale Edun, said that the Federal Government has secured funds from the African Development Bank for budget support.
He said that the one billion dollars funds would aid effective implementation of the government reform policies as well as ensure transparency and accountability in the various tax reforms.
He added that it would be used in areas such as power, ensuring efficient utilisation of tax revenues, adding that it was not for project funding.
