The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday said no date has been fixed for passage of the 2018 budget. Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger) who stated this while addressing newsmen in Abuja assured that the Senate was working very hard to provide a budget that will serve the interest of all Nigerians.
According to him “the budget process is on and I can’t tell you this is the specific date it is going to end. We are working very hard on it and we want to assure Nigerians that at the end of the day, we will have a budget that will serve the purpose of Nigerians.”
Recall that the budget was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 7, last year with huge expectation that it would be passed in January to enable the country return to the January to December fiscal calendar. Inflation Drops For The 13th Consecutive Month In Nigeria.
Annual inflation in Nigeria stood at 14.33 per cent in February, slowing for the 13th month in a row. It is driven by a decline in the pace of food price increases, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the food price index showed inflation at 17.59 per cent in February, compared with 18.92 per cent in January. Core inflation was 15.13 per cent last month.
NBS head Yemi Kale said in January he expects inflation to fall faster this year compared with 2017, but that spending ahead of 2019 presidential elections could stoke prices. Food price inflation has remained in high double digits over the last year.
Kale has said the country is in a harvest period and output is increasing, which would help lower food prices, but household consumption remain fragile after the 2016 recession. A stand-off that has affected Nigeria’s ability to set interest rates may also be coming to an end, with the possibility of a rate-setting meeting as early as next Tuesday.
SEGUN @SegunAndrews said: “It’s been 13 months after Nigeria recorded her first disinflation, this was after several months of persistent rise in the inflation rates. Today, the country recorded 13th consecutive drop in the economic index.”
“Nigeria is doing well in taming inflation as data shows 14.33 pct,” oludare mayowa said. Proshare Nigeria advised that the policy makers and economic managers in the country need to pay urgent attention to the declining trend in the PMI in order to nip it in the bud.
