ABUJA—Yesterday, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a N13.8 trillion borrowing plan and an N47.9 trillion budget proposal for the fiscal year 2025.

Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, revealed this to State House reporters following the conclusion of the Council meeting, which was chaired by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

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The permission is included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and Fiscal Strategy Paper for 2025–2027.

As mandated by law, the framework is anticipated to be sent to the National Assembly on Friday or Monday.

Based on government goals and economic forecasts, Bagudu listed a number of crucial criteria that would direct the 2025 budget. These include a benchmark oil price of $75 per barrel, an exchange rate of N1.400 to $1, and a predicted GDP growth rate of 4.6% for 2025.
The government also expects to produce 2.06 million barrels of oil per day.

According to the budget’s fiscal plan, the government would borrow around N13.8 trillion, or roughly 3.87% of GDP, to finance important economic and infrastructural projects.

Bagudu underlined that this borrowing is a component of a larger strategy to control government expenditure in a sustainable manner.

With a growth rate of 3.19% in the second quarter of 2024, the Nigerian economy is demonstrating resilience, the Minister added.

It is anticipated that measures to combat inflation and stabilise important economic sectors will sustain this development until 2025.

Bagudu enumerates the objectives of fiscal policy.
He emphasised that the goals of the Federal Government’s fiscal policies are to increase economic resilience, keep up with inflationary pressures, and offer more focused assistance to promote long-term growth.

Despite some setbacks in reaching its objectives, Bagudu also emphasised that the 2024 budget’s execution was going well, with notable advancements in income collection and spending control.

In particular, non-oil revenue streams have shown encouraging growth and have outperformed earlier projections.

Numerous provisions are included in the N47.9 trillion planned budget for 2025, especially in sectors like social programs, infrastructure development, and important national projects.

Bagudu also said that the government’s budget will for the first time contain funding for the development commissions that the National Assembly had either recently enacted or was in the process of passing.

The goal of these policies is to support the nation’s social and economic advancement at the local level.

In order to establish a stable fiscal environment and follow the January-December budget cycle that the administration intends to adopt going forward, he added, the federal government is dedicated to making sure that the 2025 budget is approved and signed into law before December 2024.

The 2025-2027 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Papers (FSP), which present the government’s long-term fiscal policies and plans for attaining sustainable growth, were also approved by the FEC together with the 2025 budget.

The National Assembly will now receive these materials for additional consideration.