Nigeria’s 2023 Budget, Highest In History | See Details

By Tolulope Oke

The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has presented a record N20.51 trillion 2023 appropriation budget bill to the national assembly.

The president delivered the speech to the joint session of the national assembly in the house of representatives’ temporary chamber.

He said that based on the parameters and fiscal assumptions, the revenue generation should hit about N16.87 trillion.

The 2023 transition budget, according to Buhari, was created to address pressing concerns and provide a strong basis for the new administration.

The budget is christened ‘Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and Transition’.

A breakdown of the budget shows that N744.11 billion was earmarked for statutory transfers, N8.27 trillion for non-debt recurrent costs, N1.1 trillion for overhead costs, and N5.35 trillion for capital expenditure.

“We expect the total fiscal operations of the federal government to result in a deficit of N10.78 trillion,” Buhari said.

“This represents 4.78 percent of estimated GDP, slightly above the 3 percent threshold set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.

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“As envisaged by the law, we need to exceed this threshold considering the need to continue to tackle the existential security challenges facing the country.”

The president explained that the budget deficit will be financed mainly through borrowings.

Buhair also disclosed that oil revenue is projected at N1.92 trillion, non-oil taxes are estimated at N2.43 trillion, and FGN independent revenues are projected to be N2.21 trillion.

Other revenues total N762 billion, while the retained revenues of the GOEs amount to N2.42 trillion.

In his speech, Mr Buhari stressed that the 2023 Appropriation Bill aims to maintain the focus of MDAs on the revenue side of the budget and greater attention to internal revenue generation.

“Sustenance of revenue diversification strategy would further increase the non-oil revenue share of total revenues,” President Buhari opined.