Why We Increased 2020 Budget Despite Low Revenue ― Presidency

The Presidency at the weekend explained the reason behind the upward review of the 2020 budget, saying it was premised on the need to tailor funds to address critical infrastructure gap and the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, Friday, signed the Appropriation (Repeal and Amendment) Act, 2020 of N10.8 trillion, which has N216 billion higher than what was initially proposed in the 2020 Appropriation Act. into law.

Speaking to State House correspondents on why the revision was made, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives) Umar el-Yakub, said the budget was raised to N10.8 trillion after certain realities were considered.

He pointed out that whereas the initial 2020 budget was benchmarked on $25 dollars per barrel of crude oil, the revised one had $28, which gave a bit of increased revenue.

According to him, “Some parameters were looked at, in any event, the 2020 budget was benchmarked at $25 per barrel of crude oil while the new amended budget is at $28 per barrel.

“So because of that, you can see there is a bit of an increase in revenue and thank God also the price of oil from then even though the initial benchmark was at 53, there has been a leap recently in the price of oil and even though the production benchmark was reduced from 1.9 million barrels to 1.8 million barrels per day.

“But certainly because of the increment in projections as far as the cost of oil is concerned, some monies were realized and projected to be realized.

“In addition to that, one needs to understand that the whole essence of the review is to prioritize government projects to the extent that projects that it will certainly address infrastructure and ginger the economy more as well as address health issues, concerns because of the pandemic.

2020 Budget