The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has passed the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) and set the benchmark for crude oil at $40 per barrel for the 2021 budget.

The MTEF and FSP were done after a harmonised report of the Joint Finance Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives was considered. The proposed expenditure was set at N13.58 trillion while the fiscal deficit is N5.60 trillion. The new borrowing is N4.28 trillion for both foreign and domestic, statutory transfers at N484.4 billion, debt service is N3.12 trillion, and sinking fund is N220 billion.

The other indices considered includes pension, gratuities and benefits of retirees at N520.6 billion; the total expenditure is at N13.58 trillion and total recurrent (non-debt) is set at N5.66 trillion.

The personnel cost for Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) is N3.05trn; capital expenditure (excluding transfers) is N3.58trn; special intervention (recurrent) is N350bn; and special intervention (capital) is N20bn.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Olamilekan Solomon Adeola, said that after due deliberations, the joint committee also recommended that the daily crude oil production should be 1.86 million barrels per day (mbpd); the exchange rate should be at N379 to $1; the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate should be 3%; the inflation growth rate should be  11.95%; and the Federal Government retained revenue should be N7.99 trillion.