Breaking: Representatives pass 2020 budget

The House of Representatives has passed the 2020 revised federal budget.

The lawmakers increased expenditure for the fiscal year from N10.5 trillion to N10.8 trillion.

On Friday, May 29, 2020, in view of the global economic crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, the executive had proposed a reduction of the bill to N10.509 trillion.

In separate letters to both houses in the National Assembly, the President said the N10 .509 trillion appropriation bill was predicated on oil price benchmark of $25per barrel as against $57per which the previous budget was based on.

Based on the version approved by the house today, N2.6 trillion was earmarked for debt service and N2.9 trillion for sinking funds.

Recall that NewsWireNGR had on Tuesday, June 9, 2020 reported that the World Bank expects the Nigerian economy to shrink by 3.2%.

In its Flagship Report for June 2020, the development bank said Nigeria’s heavy dependence on oil for foreign earnings and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the commodity will see the country drop into recession this year.

“Forecast downgrades are larger and the recessions are deeper in EMDEs with the most severe COVID-19 outbreaks or those most susceptible to global spillovers, such as economies that are heavily dependent on tourism (Croatia, Maldives, Seychelles, Thailand), economies deeply embedded in global value chains (Bulgaria, Mexico, Poland), and major exporters of industrial commodities (Chile, Nigeria, Russian Federation, South Africa).” the report said.