On Monday afternoon, President Bola Tinubu officially ratified the 2024 Appropriation Bill at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Tinubu endorsed the budget, which amounts to N28.7tn, following its prior approval by the National Assembly. His signing ceremony occurred shortly after he arrived in Abuja from a week-long holiday in Lagos.
The approved budget is N1.2tn higher than the initial proposal Tinubu presented to the National Assembly on November 29, 2023. During that presentation, the President had outlined a budget deficit of N9.18tn for the 2024 fiscal year.
President Tinubu highlighted that the N9.18tn deficit is a reduction from the N13.78tn deficit recorded in 2023, constituting 6.11% of the GDP. To fund the deficit, he outlined plans for new borrowings totaling N7.83tn, N298.49BN from Privatisation Proceeds, and N1.05 trillion from drawdowns on multilateral and bilateral loans designated for specific development projects.
In his remarks, President Tinubu stressed the importance of maintaining the January-December implementation cycle for the budget. He stated, “Our goal is to ensure that the Appropriation Act comes into effect on January 1, 2024.”