Abuja – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday presented lawmakers with his government’s 2022 budget proposal of 16.39 trillion naira ($39.8 billion), a spending increase of around 25% from this year.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns that battered the global price of crude.
The 2022 proposal sent to parliament is 3.36 trillion naira higher than the 13.03 trillion naira approved last year.
But with Nigeria’s inflation running at around 17 percent in June, the spending increase will be much less in real terms.
The budget proposal assumes Nigeria’s crude production will be 1.88 million barrels a day, at an average price of $57 per barrel, and an exchange rate of 410 naira to the dollar.
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Buhari told lawmakers at a joint session of the upper and lower chambers of parliament the 2022 bill was a “budget of economic growth and sustainability”.
“Defence and internal security will continue to be our top priority. We remain firmly committed to the security of life, property and investment nationwide,” Buhari said.
The spending plan includes a projected GDP growth rate of 4.2% and 13% inflation rate with a deficit of 6.26 trillion naira, representing 3.4% of estimated GDP.
The deficit will be covered mostly with new loans.
Africa’s most populous country slipped into its second recession in four years in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the global economy.
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Picture: Getty Images
Source: AFP
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