The Federal Executive Council has approved a proposed national budget of ₦47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, disclosed this on Thursday while briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu.
This was part of the Medium-Term Expenditures Framework, MTEF, for 2025 to 2027 and in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007.
“And equally, the fiscal objectives were conservative, because we want to ensure that we study the course much as we believe the projections will be exceeded. The budget size that was approved for presentation to the National Assembly in the MTEP is ₦47.9 trillion, with new borrowings of ₦9.2 trillion to finance the budget deficit in 2025,” Bagudu said.
“We need to sustain the market deregulation, commendable market deregulation of petroleum prices and exchange rate, and to compel the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited to lower its oil and gas production cost significantly, and even to consider the need to amend the relevant sections of the petroleum industry act 2021 to address the significant risk to Federation.
“The Federal Executive Council approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the physical strategy paper, and it will be submitted to the National Assembly. This in addition to bills that are already at the National Assembly, the economic stabilization bills and tax reform bills, which we believe we will have a very, very strong growth in 2025.”
During the meeting, the FEC approved its submission to the National Assembly as required by the 2007 Fiscal Responsibility Act.
The framework projected a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 4.6 percent, an exchange rate of $75 to the naira, and oil production of 2.06 million barrels per day.
More to follow..