* Further official devaluation of thr Naira
*US$77.96 oil benchmark price and GDP growth rate of 3.88%

Further devaluation of the Naira is one of the major fall outs of the N28.7 trillion 2024 Budget passed by the National Assembly last Saturday following the budget proposal earlier presented by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

This is because the Senate increased the exchange rate from N750 to N800 per dollar while the 1.78mbpd daily oil production, US$77.96 oil benchmark price and GDP growth rate of 3.88% were approved as proposed by the executive arm of government.

The official devaluation of the national currency will expectedly have implication for the black market rates of the currency which on the last day of the year stood at N1,210 to the dollar.

The National Assembly actually increased the budget presented by President Bola Tinubu in November from N27.5 trillion to N28. 7 trillion.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had on Wednesday, 29 November presented the budget that was increased with about N1.2 trillion. He presented the budget to the joint session of the National Assembly which he tagged : “budget of renewed hope.”

The Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, announced the passage of the budget after the majority of the lawmakers supported it through a voice vote.

The passage of the budget was sequel to the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriation presented by the chairman, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, All Progressives Congress (APC) Ogun West.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi (APC Kano), presented the report at the lower chamber.

They also pegged the benchmark of oil price at $77.96 per barrel of crude oil to reflect the current market values of the product in the international market.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi (APC Kano), presented the report at the lower chamber.

Mr Olamilekan, while presenting the report, recommended that N1.7 trillion be approved for Statutory Transfers and N8 2 trillion be approved for Debt service.

The committee chairman also recommended that N8.7 trillion be approved as recurrent (non-debt) expenditure and N9.9 trillion be approved as capital expenditure.

The lawmaker explained that the increase in the appropriation was as a result of a request for additional funding of items which were not listed in the Appropriation Bill as submitted by President Tinubu.

He said the joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriation observed inadequate funding in the budgetary allocations of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government

The breakdown of budget as approved by the National Assembly are;

Aggregate Expenditure – N28,777,404,073,861

Statutory Transfers – N1,742,786,788,150

Recurrent Expenditure – N8,768,513,380,852

Capital Expenditure – N9,995,143,298,028

GDP – 3.88 %

After receiving the reports, both chambers dissolved into the Committee of Supply, which considered and passed the budget.

Meanwhile, the Senate on Saturday also approved the securitisation of outstanding 7.388trn Ways and Means following the request of President Tinubu which aims to realise the reduction of debt service cost and to extend the repayment period of the existing loans.

The Ways and Means provision allows the government to borrow from the Central Bank if it requires short-term or emergency financing to support delayed government projected cash receipts of fiscal shortfalls.

According to the President’s letter to the Senate, the interest rate for the securitized Ways and Means advances has been reduced to 9% per annum, compared to the MPR of +3%.

The parameters of the securitisation of Ways and Means advances as gazetted by the Debt Management Office (DMO) entail the Federal Government issuing debt securities with a 40-year tenor to the CBN, with a 5% interest rate and a 3-year moratorium on principal repayments.