The Federal Executive Council (FEC), in its first ever virtual meeting has approved an additional N318 billion for the revised 2020 budget bringing it to N10. 523 trillion from N10. 276 trillion.
The revised budget is N71.5bn lesser the original N10.954 trillion earlier sent to the National Assembly.
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According to the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, who addressed the press at the end of the meeting, the crude oil benchmark pride was also adjusted to $25 from $20 per barrel earlier announced by the budget office.
The medium term expenditure framework for 2020-2022 was also ammended.
“The council has approved our recommendations and the approval has these key parameters; the crude oil price is approved at $25 per barrel.
“Crude oil production is at 1.94 million barrels per day and then an exchange rate of N360 to $1. The revised budget is now in the total sum of N10.523 trillion, a difference of just about N71.5 billion when compared to the approved budget.
“This is because, as we cut down the size of the budget, we also have to bring in new expenditure previously not budgeted, to enable us adequately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The federal government in this budget will have direct revenue of funding the budget of N5.158 billion. The deficit to this budget is N5.365 trillion and this will be financed by both domestic as well as foreign borrowing.”
The foreign loans here include, concensionary instruments from the World Bank, IMF, Islamic Development Bank and the Afro EXZIM Bank.
“There will also be some drawdown of previously committed loans for major ongoing projects that we will be drawing from both exiting facilities as well as some special accounts with the approval of Mr President and the national assembly.
“And also revenue that we are expecting to realize from privatization. So the borrowing, the drawdown of the multilateral loan coming from special accounts and coming from the privatization will fund the fiscal deficit of N5.365 trillion that we have in the proposed amendment of the 2020 budget.”