From Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said Monday in Abuja that President Muhammadu Buhari was currently reviewing the 2018 budget transmitted to it by the National Assembly on May 26.
Making this disclosure after meeting President Buhari in the State House, Senator Udoma, said the executive had 30 days to hold on to the budget without assent.
According to him, the president’s current examination of the Appropriation Bill is still within the stipulated time frame.
“The President is currently reviewing the budget and as you know, we have a minimum window of 30 days.
“The President is currently reviewing it and as soon as he is through, he will sign it. That is what l can tell you for now,” Udoma said.
Buhari had in November last year, presented N8.6 trillion budget to the National Assembly.
But upon its passage on May 10, the lawmakers jacked up the figure to N9,120, 334,988,225 from the N8.6 trillion presented to them, thus implying an increase of N508 billion.
The budget comprises N3.5 trillion recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, N2.8 trillion capital expenditure, fiscal deficit of N1.955 trillion or 1.73 percent to gross domestic product (GDP).
The budget was predicated on oil benchmark of $51 per barrel which was an increase of $6 from the $45 proposed by the executive; 2.3 million oil production volume and an exchange rate of N305/$1.
