FG proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has proposed N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year for submission to the National Assembly on Monday. The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, said this after the council meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa. According to him, the council pegged the price of crude oil at $75 per barrel and proposed N1,400 as the exchange rate to a dollar, with oil production put at 2.06 million barrels per day. Mr Bagudu said the budget proposal included new borrowings of N9.2 trillion to finance the budget deficit in 2025. The minister added that with a growth rate of 3.19 per cent as of the second quarter of 2024, the federal government would continue to tackle inflation, strengthen economic resilience and provide more support for the economy.
He also said the government would continue supporting high employment generation sectors, improving the business environment and effectively implementing youth development and social investment programmes. Mr Bagudu also disclosed that FEC reviewed the 2024 budget implementation and acknowledged that the review revealed promising in revenue collection and expenditure management. “Despite lacks in prorated target, the overall trajectory shows that fiscal efforts are on track with key non-oil streams performing better than anticipated,” he said. Similarly, the minister said that the FEC approved the medium-term expenditure framework and the fiscal strategy paper to be submitted to the NASS. “This is in addition to the bills that are already at the National Assembly, the Economic Stabilisation Bill and Tax Reforms Bill, which we believe we will have a very strong growth in 2025,” he said. (NAN)