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| Acting President Yemi Osinbajo |
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday finally signed the
2017 Appropriation Act into law in the presence of the principal officers of
the National Assembly and other top government officials.
The budget, christened: ‘Budget of Economic Recovery and
Growth’, has a revenue projection of N5.08tn and an aggregate expenditure of
N7.44tn. The projected fiscal deficit of N2.36tn is to be financed largely by
borrowing.
Shortly after signing the document into law at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, Osinbajo described the budget as an important
milestone in the nation’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan that was unveiled
in April by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He commended the Ministry of Budget and National Planning
for preparing a good document, and the National Assembly for the rancour-free
manner in which it was passed.
Osinbajo, however, explained that he delayed the signing of
the budget because of the disagreements the Executive had about the changes
introduced to the document by the Legislature.
He said the Executive’s stance was that the changes would
affect some of the Federal Government’s priority programmes and would make
implementation difficult or even impossible.
Osinbajo explained that he finally decided to sign the
document after the leadership of the National Assembly gave a commitment to
reinstate the budgetary allocations for all the important Executive projects,
such as the standard gauge railway projects, the Mambilla power project, the
Second Niger Bridge and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, among others, which the
lawmakers had reduced to fund some of the new projects they introduced.
He noted that the reinstatement would be by way of an
application for virement by the Executive, which the lawmakers had agreed would
be expeditiously considered and approved.
The acting President stated, “The final presentation and the
signing of the budget has been considerably delayed. This was largely due to
disagreements we had about the changes introduced to our 2017 budget proposals
by the National Assembly. The Executive took the view that the changes
fundamentally affected some of our priority programmes and would make
implementation extremely difficult, and in some cases, impossible.
“I must say that the entire leadership of the National
Assembly led by the Senate President and the Speaker adopted a commendably
patriotic and statesmanlike approach to our engagements on resolving these
critical issues.”
Osinbajo added that during the discussions with the
leadership of the National Assembly, it was resolved that the nation should
return to a predictable January-to-December fiscal year.
Describing it as a particularly important development, he
said it was in accord with the financial year of most private sector companies,
underscoring the crucial relationship between the government and the private
sector.
To this end, Osinbajo said on the understanding that the
Executive would be submitting the 2018 budget proposals to the National
Assembly by October this year, the leadership of the National Assembly had
committed to working towards its passage into law before the end of 2017.
He said the budget he signed into law reflected the
government’s commitment to ensuring strong linkage between the ERGP and the
annual budgets.
Osinbajo also replied those who had been expressing concerns
over the nation’s rising debt profile, saying the borrowings were still within
sustainable limits.
He stated, “Let me assure those who have expressed concern
about the growing public debt that we are taking several actions to grow
government revenues as well as plug revenue leakages.
“This is because, notwithstanding the fact that our
borrowings are still within sustainability limits, we are determined, in the
medium term, to reduce our reliance on borrowings to finance our expenditures.”
The acting President explained that the nation’s economy was
already showing signs of a gradual recovery as growth was headed towards a
positive territory.
He noted that the first quarter Gross Domestic Product
growth of -0.52 per cent compared favourably with -2.06 per cent in the first
quarter of 2016.
He added that inflation was declining to 17.24 per cent from
18.74 per cent as of May 2016, while the external reserves were now $30.28bn as
of June 8, 2017, up from $26.59bn on May 31, 2016.
Osinbajo added, “We are also gradually instilling confidence
in our exchange rate regime. This improvement in the GDP growth and other
macro-economic indicators are largely attributable to our strategic
implementation of the 2016 budget as well as stronger macroeconomic management
and policy coordination.
“To demonstrate our commitment to following through our
Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, the 2017 budget allocates over N2tn to
capital expenditure, principally infrastructure.
“For instance, we are committing over N200bn to improve
transport infrastructure such as roads and rail; over N500bn for investments in
works, power, and housing; and N46bn for Special Economic Zone projects to be
set up in each geopolitical zone.”
The Acting President said the signing of the budget would
trigger activities in the domestic economy, which would lead to job creation
and more opportunities for employment, especially for the youth.
He said it was because of the reality that government alone
could not achieve the goal of delivering inclusive growth that the 2017 budget
provided opportunities for partnerships with the private sector.
The National Assembly had on May 9 passed the budget
estimates submitted by the President last December.
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