Senate passes revised N10.8 trn budget

Senate has passed an increased budget for 2020, as Nigeria tackles the new coronavirus pandemic and a sharp fall in the price of oil, the country’s most valuable export. The government had planned to reduce its initial record 2020 budget, but the revised 10.8 trillion naira ($30 billion) plan approved by the Senate and passed by the lower house a day earlier, is now above the amount President Muhammadu Buhari had agreed to in December.

It is also 300 billion naira larger than the revised budget plan Buhari had submitted to parliament, and it increases the projected oil price by $3 per barrel. The spending plan must now be sent back to the president to pass into law after he has agreed to any changes.

The budget assumes oil production at 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd). Oil prices have recovered from a 20-year low of just under $16 per barrel hit in March. However, Nigeria has also agreed to limit its oil output to 1.412 million bpd as part of a deal with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers. That agreement was extended through the end of July.