Federal Government says it will spend N8.25 trillion on debt servicing in the N27trillion 2024 budget, projecting that the economy will grow by 3.76 percent.
President Bola Tinubu disclosed this on Wednesday while presenting the proposed budget for 2024 to the National Assembly.
Tinubu said the budget will cement macroeconomic stability, reduce the deficit, and increase capital spending and allocation to reflect the eight priority areas of this administration.
He said a stable macroeconomic environment is important to catalyse private investment and accelerate economic growth.
He said, “We have and shall continue to implement business and investment friendly measures for sustainable growth.
“We expect the economy to grow by a minimum of 3.76 percent, above the forecasted world average. Inflation is expected to moderate to 21.4 percent in 2024.
“In preparing the 2024 Budget, our primary objective has been to sustain our robust foundation for sustainable economic development. A critical focus of this budget and the medium term expenditure framework is Nigeria’s commitment to a greener future.”
National Assembly, last week, approved the 2024-2026 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) — parameters on which the 2024 budget will be framed.
Tinubu, who spoke on the key parameters of the 2024 budget, said the government has adopted “a conservative oil price benchmark of 96 US Dollars” per barrel and a daily oil production estimate of 1.78 million barrels per day.
This, according to the president, followed a careful review of developments in the global oil market and domestic conditions.
He said, “We have also adopted a Naira to US Dollar exchange rate of 750 naira per US Dollar for 2024.
“Accordingly, an aggregate expenditure of 5 trillion naira is proposed for the Federal Government in 2024, of which the non-debt recurrent expenditure is 9.92 trillion naira while debt service is projected to be 8.25 trillion naira and capital expenditure is 8.7 trillion naira.
“Nigeria remains committed to meeting its debt obligations. Projected debt service is 45% of the expected total revenue.”
Federal Executive Council, on November 27, approved N27 trillion proposed for the 2024 budget.