The Nigerian Senate has pegged the benchmark price of crude oil in the 2021 budget at $40 per barrel while the foreign exchange rate is pegged at $1 to =N=379.
Senate also put the new foreign and domestic borrowings by the federal government at =N=4.28 trillion, following a consideration of the harmonized conference report of the joint senate and House of Representatives committee on finance on Thursday.
These followed the passage of the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper, (FSP) projections upon which the 2021 budget would be based.
In his presentation, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, explained that the joint committee of the two chambers after due deliberations recommended that “daily crude oil production be pegged at 1.86mbpd; benchmark oil price at US$40 per barrel; exchange rate at =N=379 to $1USD; Gross Domestic Growth, GDP rate at three percent; inflation growth rate at 11.95 percent; and federal government retained revenue at N7.99 trillion.”
He added that the total federal government proposed expenditure was pegged at =N=13.58 trillion and fiscal deficit at =N=5.60 trillion.
Also, the Senate approved =N=4.28 trillion as new borrowings (including foreign and domestic borrowing); statutory transfers at =N=484.4 billion; debt service =N=3.12 trillion; Sinking Fund =N=220 billion; pension, gratuities and retirees benefits =N=520.6 billion; total FGN expenditure =N=13.58 trillion; and total recurrent (non-debt) =N=5.66 trillion.
Senate also put the personnel costs for ministries, departments and agencies of government, (MDAs) at =N=3.05 trillion; capital expenditure (exclusive of transfers) at =N=3.58 trillion; special intervention (recurrent) =N=350 billion; and special intervention (capital) =N=20 billion.
