Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Federal Government has set the deadline for the submission of the 2020 budget proposals by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for Friday, September 20, 2019.
This was disclosed in the 2020 Budget Call Circular released by the Budget Office of the Federation on Monday, which set out the requirements and instructions that must be satisfied and followed ahead of preparations of the 2020 Federal Government of Nigeria Budget Proposal.
The document, obtained by Business Post, directed the MDAs to take into consideration the policies and strategies contained in the 2020 – 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) which outlines Nigeria’s development priorities.
“Ministries are required to make their submissions online using the GIFMIS Budget Preparation Module not later than Friday, 20th September, 2019.
“The Chief Executive/Accounting Officers must endorse hard copies of their budget submissions, attesting to their correctness and compliance with this Circular using the attached Annexure 1,” the circular said.
MDAs were further told to consider the key parameters which align with the global and domestic economic outlook, such as oil price of $55 per barrel; 2.18 million barrel per day production; inflation rate at 10.81 percent; GDP growth rate of 2.93 percent; and exchange rate of N305/$.
In accordance with the 2020 – 2022 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, the aggregate FGN revenue available for budget for the 2020 fiscal year was projected at N7.7 billion.
According to the document, the aggregate expenditure level was projected at N10 billion, made up of Statutory Transfers of N531.49 billion, Debt Service of N2,452.60 billion, Sinking Fund of N296 billion Recurrent (non-debt) expenditure of N4,844.97 billion and Capital expenditure (exclusive of capital in Statutory Transfers) of N1,877.22 billion of which MDAs Capital expenditure is N1.01 billion.
In line with the Federal Government’s Open Government Partnership all MDAs have been advised to upload their respective 2020 budget proposals on the website of their ministries, departments or agencies within one week after the 2020 Budget proposal is submitted to the National Assembly ostensibly by the end of this month.
Both the executive and the legislative arms of government hope to return the country to a budget cycle of January to December.
