Nigeria plans N5 trillion budget 2013

Nigeria’s Federal Government has approved a draft budget of N4.929 trillion for the 2013 fiscal year.

This was announced by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala,the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance after the meeting of Federal Executive Council on Wednesday.

Okonjo-Iweala told journalists that the draft budget was based on oil production of 2.53 million barrels per day and a benchmark of $75 per barrel as against 2.48 million per day at $72 per barrel in the 2012 budget.

According to her, the 2013 budget tagged “Physical Consolidation with Growth” had projected a revenue profile of N3.891 trillion.

“We had fiscal deficit of 2.85 per cent of GDP in 2012 and we are expecting this to come down to 2.17 per cent of GDP, which is well below the three per cent that is prescribed in law in the Fiscal Responsibility Act,“ Okonjo- Iweala said while affirming that government is working towards a new approach in managing domestic debt: “We have been we’ve been bringing it down from N852 billion in 2011 to N744 billion in 2012 budget and we are projecting N727 billion for this fiscal year 2013. So, we are gradually bringing this down.”

She added that government projection is to reduce annual borrowing to N500 billion by year 2015.

The Minister also revealed government plan to introduce‘Sinking Fund’ of N25 billion yearly to service domestic debt.

This, she said, is in addition to another N75 billion to help retire a bond that is coming up in February next year.

“The focus of the federal government’s proposals is that the budget should make a practical impact on the areas that matter most to the Nigerian people which are: jobs, power supply, roads, rail other infrastructure and agriculture.

“The 2013 budget proposal is anchored on the key goal of achieving fiscal consolidation with growth and job creation.” She added.