President Buhari to Present N19.76 Trillion 2023 Budget on Friday

Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari will present the N19.76 trillion 2023 budget to the joint National Assembly on Friday, according to Senate President Ahmad Lawan.

The Senate President disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, saying the presentation would take place at 10:00 am at the temporary chamber of the House of Representatives.

According to the details of the draft presented to the House of Representatives, crude oil was benchmarked at $70 a barrel while oil production was estimated at 1.69 million barrels per day (mbpd) for 2023.

The federal government projected the Naira-Dollar exchange rate at N435.57 despite the black market trading at over N700/US$. Also, it was forecasted that the inflation rate would moderate from the current 20.52% to 17.16% while the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was pegged at 3.75%, slightly above 3.55% estimated for 2022.

“Growth is expected to moderate to 3.30% in 2024 before picking up to 3.46% in 2025.

“The inflation rate is projected to average 17.16% in 2023, up from the revised average of 16.11% for 2022.

“Upward pressure on prices is expected to be driven by the current and lag effect of the global price surge due to the Russian-Ukraine war, domestic insecurity, rising costs of imports, exchange rate depreciation, as well as other supply-side constraints.”