THE Senate on Wednesday passed the Medium Term
Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper three
months after submission to the National Assembly by
President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari had in September submitted MTEF/FSP for
consideration to the National Assembly.
However, the consideration was delayed due what
lawmakers described as “empty” MTEF.
At the consideration of the report on Wednesday, the
Senate carried all the recommendations of the Joint
Committee on Finance, Appropriation and National
Planning.
In the report, the Joint Committee recommended the
adoption of $44.5 per barrel as the benchmark price for
oil for the the 2017 budget.
The Senate adopted N305 to a dollar as exchange rate,
but advised the Central Bank of Nigeria to initiate
measures that would close the gap between the parallel
market and the official exchange rate.
The Senate also adopted the projected N5.1 trillion for
non-oil revenue in 2017 and N807.57 billion for Federal
Government’s independent revenue for 2017.
The Senate adopted the Federal Government’s
borrowing plans in 2017 but insisted that the borrowing
should be on project-tied basis.
In his remarks after the passage of the MTEF, the
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, applauded
the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma
Udo Udoma, for his cooperation with the committees
and urged him to continue to cooperate with them
during budget defence.
