President Bola Tinubu, on Monday afternoon, officially signed the 2024 Appropriation Bill into law at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. This move follows the approval by the National Assembly, and Tinubu’s signature solidifies the N28.7tn budget document.
Tinubu’s approval of the budget comes after his return from a week-long holiday in Lagos, marking the commencement of fiscal activities for the year. The approved budget is N1.2tn higher than the initial proposal presented to the National Assembly on November 29, 2023.
Addressing the budget deficit, Tinubu highlighted that the N9.18tn deficit is a reduction from the N13.78tn recorded in 2023, constituting 6.11 per cent of the GDP. Financing the deficit will involve new borrowings amounting to N7.83tn, N298.49BN from Privatisation Proceeds, and N1.05 trillion drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.
Emphasizing the importance of maintaining the January-December implementation cycle, President Tinubu stated, “Our goal is to ensure that the Appropriation Act comes into effect on January 1, 2024.”
Notably, on December 29, 2023, the Senate increased the 2024 budget by N1.2tn, bringing the total to N28.7tn. The budget breakdown includes aggregate expenditure at N28,777,404,073,861; statutory transfers at N1,742,786,788,150; recurrent expenditure at N8,768,5330,852; capital expenditure at N9,995,143,298,028, with a projected GDP growth of 3.88 per cent.
