The Senate on Saturday approved the 2024 budget with an increase of about N1.2 trillion.
Increased the 27.5 trillion naira budget presented by President Bola Tinubu in November at N28. 7 billion.
The legislative upper house also set the reference price of oil at $77.96 per barrel of crude oil to reflect the current values of the product in the international market.
Federal lawmakers approved an oil production rate of 1.78 million barrels per day and an exchange rate of 800 naira per US dollar.
The GDP growth rate was pegged at 3.88 percent and the budget deficit was approved at N9.18 trillion.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the approval of the budget after the majority of lawmakers supported it through a voice vote.
The budget was approved after considering a report presented by the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Ogun West).
Olamilekan, presenting the report, recommended that N1.7 trillion be approved for statutory transfers and N8 trillion for debt servicing.
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The committee chairman also recommended that N8.7 trillion be approved as recurrent (non-debt related) expenditure and N9.9 trillion as capital expenditure.
The lawmaker explained that the increase in allocation was due to a request for additional funding for items that were not in the allocation bill presented by President Tinubu.
He said the joint Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly observed inadequate funding in the budget allocation of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government.
Break down
The breakdown of the budget approved by the Senate is as follows;
Aggregate expenditure -N28,777,404,073,861
Statutory transfers -N1,742,786,788,150
Recurring expenses: N8,768,513,380,852
Capital expenditure: N9,995,143,298,028
GDP – 3.88%
After presenting the report, the Senate dissolved into the Supply Committee, which considered and approved the budget.