2020 Budget: FG Appropriates N450b for Fuel Subsidy

• 2020 Budget: FG Appropriates N450b for Fuel Subsidy

The Minister of Finance, Budget & National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, has said the Federal Government appropriated N450 billion for fuel subsidy in the proposed 2020 budget.

“We have a provision for under-recovery of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the sum of N450 billion,” stated the minister during a breakdown of the budget at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja.

The provision, according to her, is called under-recovery because it is an operational cost for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Last week, the new Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timpre Sylva, said the border closure has helped curb smuggling as Nigeria’s daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) declined from 60 million litres per day to 52 million.

A new team of 89 persons was inaugurated to ensure further transparency and accountability in the distribution of products.

In 2018, Dr. Maikanti Baru, the then Group Managing Director, NNPC, said the corporation spent N1.7 trillion or $5.8 billion on fuel subsidy of 50 million litres per day. The current allocation of N450 billion is about 27 percent of that 2018 spending despite almost the same daily consumption.

Transparency and accountability would help lower government expenditures and improve spending on capital projects.

Also, the minister disclosed that a total sum of N3.333 trillion had been spent on both recurrent and capital releases of the 2019 budget.