The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, revealed that the Federal Government will present the 2018 appropriation bill to the National Assembly in October 2017. The Minister disclosed this at a public dialogue with Members of the National Assembly, top government officials, members of the Civil Societies Organisation, and the Organised Private Sector among others in continuation of his consultations on the draft 2018–2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, (MTEF).
The minister’s spokesperson, Akpandem James, said the meeting was is in keeping with the determination of the Federal Government to carry along critical interest groups, particularly National Assembly, in matters of governance. The focus of the consultative meeting would be the scenarios of the MTEF for the next three years, Mr. James said.
The MTEF outlines Federal Government’s fiscal policies and macroeconomic projections for 2018–2020. It also provides broad framework for annual budget and fiscal management in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, FRA, 2007.
He said the consultations on the draft MTEF began on Thursday last week when the Minister briefed state governors at the National Economic Council, NEC, meeting on the key assumptions and macro-economic framework for next year’s budget.
During the meeting, they said the basis for the projections for oil production levels, oil price benchmark, exchange rate, inflation rate, gross domestic product, GDP, growth rate, nominal GDP and nominal consumption rate, among others, were explained.
Mr. Udoma was accompanied by the Minister of State, Zainab Ahmed and Director General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze.
The legislators at the session were led by the Senate leader, Ahmed Lawan, House of Representatives Majority leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, Chairmen of both the Senate and House Committees on Finance; and Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation amongst others.
