Buhari Says Nigeria Faces Worst Economic Situation In History As He Presents N7.28 trillion #2017Budget

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday the country was facing the worst economic situation in its history, in a speech to lawmakers to present the 2017 budget.

Africa’s biggest economy is in recession for the first time in 25 years, largely brought on by low oil prices. The OPEC nation relies on crude oil sales for two-thirds of government revenue.

Christened the “Budget of Recovery & Growth”, Mr. Buhari said the budget was higher than the N6.07 trillion 2016 Appropriation by about 19.95 per cent.

Details of the proposed budget showed that it was based on crude oil benchmark price of $42.5 per barrel, against the benchmark price of $38 per barrel used in the 2016 budget.

Daily crude oil production estimate was put at about 2.2 million barrels per day, same as the figure in last year’s budget, while the exchange rate was put at N305 to the dollar as against N197 to the dollar in 2016.

Further details of the proposed budget showed that government proposed to spend about N2.243 trillion on capital projects and N2.9 trillion as recurrent expenditure.

The 2017 proposed capital and recurrent expenditures were higher than the N1.8 trillion and N2.65 trillion respectively provided in the 2016 Appropriation, representing about 15.44 ?and 9.43 per cent respectively.

About N1.66 trillion has been allocated for servicing of domestic debts, for which N1.3 trillion earmarked in the 2016 budget, with foreign debt expected to take about N175.9 billion as against N54.5 billion last year.