#HUGE : Presidency Planning N8trillion Budget For 2016

In its bid to meet the high expectations of Nigerians, the President Muhammadu Buhari government is said to be working on a figure of between N7tn and N8tn for the 2016 bugget. The figures are much more higher than the 2015 budget of N4.4tn....
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this in a paper entitled: ‘The economy – Where we are today’, which he delivered at a presidential retreat organised by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for ministers-designate on Thursday.

The retreat, which ends on Friday, is holding behind closed-doors inside the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and has as its theme: ‘Delivering change: From precepts to practice’.

Osinbajo said they are working on pegging capital expenditure in 2016 budget for at least N2trillion.

This, he said, was against the N1.31tn allocated to capital expenditure in this year’s budget.

He further said that while the percentage of capital expenditure to recurrent expenditure in the 2015 budget was 19.4, the government would propose 40 per cent for next year’s budget.

Osinbajo said, “The budget process will be zero based, a method of budgeting by which all expenses must be justified for each new budget year.

“For the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, the actual 2015 budget is N4.4tn, while the proposed 2016 budget will be N7tn to N8tn.

"Capital expenditure for 2015 budget is N1.31tn, while the proposed capital expenditure for 2016 is N2tn."

Osinbajo said the nation could get out of possible recession by embarking on massive infrastructure building/renewal programme; social spending/social protection; improved consumer spending and job creation; and expansionist fiscal/monetary policies.