Senate approves 2019 expenditure framework, fiscal strategy

The Senate on Tuesday, passed the 2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP). The MTEF and FSP are d...

The Senate on Tuesday, passed the 2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).

The MTEF and FSP are documents that provide the framework of designing a budget as enshrined in section 11 (3)of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on November 6, 2018, sent a letter to the National Assembly detailing the provisions of the two documents.

In it, he made proposals for budget deficit, crude oil benchmark price, exchange rate, among others.
The Chairman Senate committee on Finance, John Enoh who presented said the committee maintained the daily production output of crude oil at 2.3 million barrel per day, USD $60.0/6 as crude oil benchmark price, N305/1US$ as the exchange rate and N500 billion as special intervention fund – as proposed by the president.

On crude oil production, the committee advised that target be achievable due to the “continuous effort of all stakeholders in checkmating the issues of oil facilities vandalism and other vices associated with such regard.”

The committee, however, reduced the proposal for the budget deficit largely financed by borrowing from N1.86 trillion to N1.64 trillion.

It was recommended that the Central Bank of Nigeria continue to adopt strategies on exchange rate that will aid in the “strengthening of the Naira and bridging the gap between the official and parallel market rate of the foreign exchange.”


The committee also urged relevant agencies to continue exploring way of generating additional revenues to bring down the fiscal deficit.

Other suggestions from the committees asked that “the Federal Government should harness the full optimal potential of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in terms of Revenue Generation to minimise the level of borrowing.

“The Federal Government should consider reducing the granting waivers and exemptions while ensuring that the Nigerian Customs Service personnel are at all oil terminals for accountability and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) should consider increasing Tax on luxury goods and services.
“Twenty per cent operating surplus to be remitted by Government owned Enterprises should be deducted at source.”

The Senate’s approval comes weeks after Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, appeared before the Senate to explain why the federal government made slight adjustments on the 2019 MTEF/FSP approved by the Executive Council of the Federation.
He said the adjustment was to accommodate some ‘unanticipated expenditure items’ in the 2019 budget proposals and the adjustments only affected the projected expenditure.