…as Senate sets to pass 2023 budget, Finance Bill, Buhari’s supplementary request today
MARGARET CHIDERA
Less than 10 days to the end of the year, the Federal Government is seeking parliamentary approval of N819,536,937,813 to supplement the 2022 budget.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday forwarded a letter to the Senate requesting approval of said amount to fix various infrastructure destroyed by flood across the various states in the country.
According to President Buhari, the supplementary budget is meant for the capital expenditure component of the 2022 budget.
If approved, the budget deficit for the year 2022 fiscal year will rise to N8.17 trillion as President Buhari added that the proposed N819.5bn supplementary budget will be financed by additional domestic borrowings.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan read Buhari’s letter at plenary on Wednesday.
The letter reads: “The year 2022 has witnessed the worse flood incident in recent history which has caused massive destruction of farm lands at a point already closed to harvest season.
“This may compound the situation of food security and nutrition in the country. The flood has also devastated road infrastructure across the 36 states and the FCT as well as bridges nationwide that are critical for movement of goods and services.
“The water sector was equally affected by the flood and there is a need to complete some ongoing critical projects that have already achieved about 85 percentage completion.
“The nine critical projects proposed in the sector cuts across water supply , dam projects and irrigation projects nationwide.
“I have approved a supplementary budget of 2022 appropriation of N819.536 Billion , all of which are capital expenditure.
“The supplementary will be financed through additional domestic borrowings which will raise the budget deficit for 2022 to N8.17 trillion and deficit to GDP ratio to 4.43 per cent.”
Lawan, thereafter, forwarded the request to Senate Committees on Appropriation, Finance, Works, Water Resources and Agriculture for expeditious consideration.
The supplementary budget will be passed on Thursday alongside the N20.51trillion 2023 appropriation bill.
The Senate President also disclosed that the much expected Finance Bill 2022 as well as the 2023 Federal Inland Revenue Service Budget (FIRS) would be passed today being the last sitting day in the year before the lawmakers vacate for festive season break.
