The federal executive council yesterday approved the revised the 2020 Budget from N10. 594 trillion signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari to N10. 523 trillion.
FEC also approved the amendment of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF for 2020-2022.
The budget has new benchmarks which now include $25 per oil barrel, and a target production rate of 1.94 million barrels per day and then an exchange rate of N360 to $1.
Addressing journalist in Abuja after the virtual FEC meeting, the minister of finance, budget and national planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said the revised budget was now a total sum of N10.523 trillion, a difference of about N71.5 billion when compared to the approved budget.
“This is because, as we cut down the size of the budget, we also have to bring in new expenditure previously not budgeted, to enable us adequately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The federal government in this budget will have direct revenue of funding the budget of N5.158 billion. The deficit to this budget is N5.365 trillion and this will be financed by both domestic as well as foreign borrowing.
“The foreign borrowing we are doing for 2020 are all concessionary loans from the IMF which have already been approved and have crystallized, from the World Bank, Islamic Development as well as Afro EXIM bank.
“There will also be some drawdown of previously committed loans for major ongoing projects that we will be drawing from both existing facilities as well as some special accounts, with the approval of Mr. President and the National Assembly. And also revenue that we are expecting to realize from privatization.
“So, the borrowing, the multilateral loans drawdown coming from special accounts and coming from the privatization will fund the fiscal deficit of N5.365 trillion that we have in the proposed amendment of the 2020 budget,” she said.
The council also approved N683 million for the purchase of 19 operational vehicles by the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA).
The minister of transportation Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, who disclosed this to journalists after the meeting, said it was the first time in four years that NPA would buy any vehicle.
“These are operational vehicles; not for management staff or any other thing. They are all Toyota,” he said, adding that the contract was awarded to Globe Motors Holding Nigeria Limited.
Similarly, the minister of power, Mr. Sale Mamman said N47 billion was approved for the provision of additional 40 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.
He said the planned 40 megawatts would be evacuated from “Kashimbilla Dam (in Taraba State) via Takum, Wukari and Yandev, to the national grid.”
He said the evacuation was necessary to save Nigeria about 120 gigawatts of power, equivalent to $9 million in a year.
He added that the move was targeted at boosting power supply in Taraba and Benue states as well as the entire north-eastern region of the country.
