FEC approves 2019 budget proposal

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved next year’s budget proposal.

The approval was granted during today’s special FEC session presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari. The meeting which started by 10:30am lasted till around 1:30pm at the Presidential Villa.

The Minister of Budget and Planning, Udoma Udoma announced the approval while briefing State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting at the presidential villa, Abuja.

Udoma said the Council will liaise with the National Assembly to determine when the president will submit the draft estimates for the consideration of the two chambers.

However, he declined comment on the details of the proposal when asked by reporters, noting that the Nigerian constitution only allows the president to give out the details and he will do so when the National Assembly is ready to receive the draft.

The FEC had on 24th October approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) for the 2019 -2021 to provide template for the 2019 budget.

The session which was presided over by President Buhari approved a budget estimate of N8.73tr for the 2019 budget, N400bn lower than that of this year.

The price of crude oil per barrel was pegged at $60, exchange rate at $305 and daily crude oil production was put at 2.3m by the FEC.

The MTEF/ FSP was designed to translate strategic development objective of the economic recovery and growth plan into a realistic and implementable budget framework.