2019 Budget: Reps To Consider Second Reading Thursday

The 2019 Appropriation Bill will today Thursday will go through second reading in the House of Representatives.

The Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara, at the plenary said “If copies of the budget have been circulated, we may have to start the second reading of the budget tomorrow (today).”

Reports say the lawmakers  have yet to pass the 2019-2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper over two months after it was transmitted to them.

Although the law stipulates that the MTEF/FSP be sent to the National Assembly for ratification by September of each year,  President Muhammadu Buhari only sent the document to the legislature on November 6, 2018, while he presented the 2019 budget on December 19, 2018.

The MTEF/FSP, which contains the economic assumptions for  the budget to be prepared, was supposed to have been passed before it was presented.

In his cover letter attached to the MTEF/FSP proposal, Buhari urged the National Assembly to ensure a speedy passage of the document.

The Federal Government had pegged the price of crude oil for the 2019 budget at $60 per barrel, the exchange rate at N305 per US dollar, and a daily crude oil production at 2.3 million barrels per day.

The National Assembly had resumed on Wednesday after the Christmas and New Year Break.