The federal government recorded revenue earning of N8.65 trillion revenue between January and September this year.
President Bola Tinubu disclosed this on Wednesday, during the presentation of the budget of N27.5 trillion for 2024 to the National Assembly
Tinubu said: “Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members, an aggregate revenue of 11.045 trillion naira was projected to fund the 2023 Budget of 24.82 trillion naira with a deficit of about 6.1 percent of GDP.
“As of September 30, the Federal Government’s actual aggregate revenue inflow was 8.65 trillion naira, approximately 96 percent of the targeted 8.28 trillion naira.”
Presenting the budget tagged ‘Budget of Renewed Hope’, the president said that its main focus was on national defence, internal security, local job creation and macro-economic stability.
He noted that the budget is made up of N9.92 trillion non-debt recurrent expenditure and N8.7 trillion capital expenditure, while N8.25 trillion was for debt service.
“Accordingly, an aggregate expenditure of N27.5 trillion is proposed for the Federal Government in 2024, of which the non-debt recurrent expenditure is N9.92 trillion, while debt service is projected to be N8.25 trillion and capital expenditure is N8.7 trillion.
‘’Nigeria remains committed to meeting its debt obligations. Projected debt service is 45 per cent of the expected total revenue. The budget deficit is projected at N9.18 trillion in 2024 or 3.88 per cent of GDP. This is lower than the N13.78 trillion deficit recorded in 2023, which represented 6.11 per cent of GDP.”
The federal government also said it planned to plans to finance the deficit through new borrowings, privatisation proceeds and drawdown from external loans.
‘’The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totaling N7.83 trillion, N298.49 billion from Privatization Proceeds, and N1.05 trillion draw down on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects,” Tinubu said.
The president added that the budget would also place priority on investment environment optimisation, human capital development, poverty reduction and social security.
Tinubu further announced inflationary rate projection for the 2024 fiscal year at 21.4 per cent, a 5.93 per cent decline from its current 27.33 per cent rate.
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate currently stands at 27.33 per cent, an almost two-decade high since 2005 and has been estimated to reach 30 per cent by December 2023, by KPMG.
“Inflation has trended upward due to weak global conditions. To contain the rising domestic prices, we will ensure effective coordination of fiscal and monetary policy measures and collaborate with sub-national governments to address structural factors driving inflation in Nigeria.
“The Budget proposal meets our goal of completing critical infrastructure projects which will help address structural problems in the economy by lowering the costs of doing business for companies and the cost of living for the average person.
“A stable macro-economic environment is important to catalyze private investment and accelerate economic growth. We have and shall continue to implement business and investment-friendly measures for sustainable growth.
“We expect the economy to grow by a minimum of 3.76%, above the forecasted world average. Inflation is expected to moderate to 21.4% in 2024,” Tinubu added.
