By Baron Ike
Baring any unforeseen circumstances, President Muhammadu Buhari will next week present the 2017 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly for consideration.
Sources said the Buhari may present the document to the NASS on Wednesday, December 14 at a joint session of the federal legislature- the Senate and House of Representatives.
According to the source, the executive had proposed a N7.28 trillion for 2017, a proposal that represents an increase of about 19.95 per cent over the 2016 Appropriation of N6.07 trillion.
In the 2016 Appropriation, crude oil benchmark cost was pegged at $38 per barrel, while production level was also 2.2 million barrels per day.
Although the cost of crude has gradually started to increase, it was learnt that the proposed appropriation were based on crude oil benchmark cost of $42.5 per barrel and a daily crude oil production estimates at about 2.2 million barrels per day.
Armadanews also learnt that the federal government may peg the exchange rate at N305 to the dollar.
“The 2017 Budget proposal is ready and has been okayed by the Executive Council of the Federation. A total spending of N7.28 trillion is being proposed for 2017,” a source said, adding that a letter had been sent to the leadership of the NASS on that.
But the leadership of the NASS did not confirm or deny receipt of the document when contacted on Tuesday, December 6.
Meanwhile, according to the PREMIUM TIMES that government proposed N2.078 trillion as capital expenditure and N2.9 trillion as recurrent expenditure.
The 2017 capital and recurrent expenditures rose by 15.44 per cent and 9.43 per cent over the 2016 Appropriation figures of N1.8 trillion and N2.65 trillion respectively.
Further review of the detailed provisions showed no allocation was made for new minimum wage or salary increment for government workers in the proposed budget for next year.
The government, however, retained the social intervention programme of N500 billion in the 2017 Budget to cushion the negative impact of the current economic recession.