FG slashes N312bn off capital projects in 2020 budget

The federal government has slashed N312 billion from projects approved in the 2020 budget.

This is in view of reduced revenue and oil prices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Documents seen by TheCable on Wednesday showed that the amount represents a cut of 20% off capital projects.

TheCable also understands that the national assembly and judiciary will determine the cuts to be made to their allocations.

Other proposed changes to the budget include a reduction of the budget oil production volume from 2.18 million barrels per day to 1.70 million barrels.

The projected budget benchmark price from $57 per barrel to $30.

The exchange rate was also adjusted from N305/$ to N360/$.

The projected oil revenue was reviewed downward from N7.67 trillion to N1.44 trillion.

The net non-oil revenue was also projected downward from N6.442 trillion to N5.84 trillion with corporate tax and value-added tax expected to contribute N1.822 trillion and N2.164 trillion down from the original N1.836 and 2.25 trillion respectively.

Funds to be distributed to the three tiers of government from the federations account is expected to dip from N8.5 trillion to N3.12 trillion.

No adjustments were made to the debt service leaving the budgeted N2.45 trillion.

New borrowings by the government was adjusted from N1.59 trillion to N4.43 trillion with incremental borrowing projected at N2.84 trillion.

TheCable had earlier reported that Zainab Ahmed, the minister for finance, budget and national planning, held a meeting with the leadership of the national assembly for the revisions to be made to the 2020 budget.

Clem Agba, the minister of state for budget and national planning; and Ben Akabueze, the director-general of the Budget Office accompanied the minister to the meeting.