Following concerns over the nation’s rising debt profile and dwindling revenue, the Federal Government said it was planning to reduce its fiscal plan for the first time since the return of democracy in 1999.

This, according to the government, was to ensure prudence, reduce deficit financing and borrowing, even as it vowed to deploy strategies to improve the nation’s revenue so as to reduce the country’s debt service to revenue ratio which is currently at 62 percent.

To achieve this, a budget size of N8.65 trillion is being proposed for the 2019 fiscal year, indicating about N470 billion reduction from N9.12 trillion budgeted for the 2018 fiscal year.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, made the disclosure at a public consultation on the 2019 – 2021 Medium Term Fiscal Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) on Thursday in Abuja.

Udoma revealed that deficit in the 2019 budget would be cut from N1.9 trillion in 2018 to N1.6 trillion, noting that the key assumptions for the 2019 proposed fiscal plan include an oil production volume of 2.3 million barrels per day (mbpd), $60 per barrel of oil benchmark and an exchange rate of N305 per dollar

He said Inflation rate was put at 9.98 percent, while Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was reviewed downward to 3.01 percent from 3.5 percent earlier projected in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

Udoma added that N3.6 trillion oil revenue was being targeted as against N2.9 trillion for the current fiscal year, while N1.385 trillion is projected as non-oil revenue as against N1.348 trillion in the 2018 budget.

The Federal Government said nine government-owned enterprises, excluding the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is expected to generate the sum of N955.3 billion, while a sum of N624.5 billion was being expected from independent revenue sources, down from about N847 billion in 2018.

Full details: https://www.ripplesnigeria.com/nigerian-govt-proposes-lower-budget-size-for-first-time-in-19-years/