N’Assembly yet to transmit budget for presidential assent— Udoma

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said the National Assembly was yet to transmit the recently passed 2018 Appropriation Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent.

Udoma made this disclosure while speaking with journalists after the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on Wednesday.

The 2018 budget was passed last week after it was delayed for over six months.

President Buhari had submitted a N8.612 trillion budget proposal for the 2018 fiscsl year before the joint session of the National Assembly in November 2017.

But, both chambers of the assembly through their appropriations committees “with due consultation of the Executive” had raised the figure of the budget by N508 billion to N9.12 trillion.

Udoma expressed worries over the delay in transmitting the budget to the president, saying it would have negative impacts on the economy.

He, however, assured that the Federal Government would cushion any shock that may arise as a result of the delay, adding that the government would expedite action on the budget once it is sent to the president for assent.

“The president is yet to receive the budget, it is therefore impossible to make a statement about the budget that has not been received.

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“Once we get it, we will work very quickly on it. When it is submitted, I am sure the National Assembly themselves will inform Nigerians,” he said.

The Minister also denied claims quoting him as saying the budget would not be signed by Buhari.

He said despite challenges, the economy was looking with a current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 1.95 percent in the first quarter of 2018

He expressed confidence that the projected 3.5 percent GDP growth would be achieved by the forth quarter of 2018, adding that the foreign reserves, which stood at $47 billion as at May 2018, were also growing at a steady pace.

 

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