New Telegraph

FEC eyes N280.7trn growth for Nigeria’s economy

…earmarks N707.96m for Air Nigeria

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Papers (MTEF/FSP), setting new parameters ahead of its presentation to the National Assembly. This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who briefed newsmen after the Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa yesterday. According to the Minister, the price of crude oil adopted forthe MTEF has been pegged at $70 per barrel in 2023; $66 in 2024 and $62 in 2025.

Shesaid:”Crudeoilproduction is projected to be 1.69million bpd for 2023 and 1.813million bpd for both 2024 as well as2025. Wehavealsoprojected thatthenominalGDP, thatthe size of Nigeria economy will rise up to N225.5trillion with 95per centof thiscontribution by the non-oil sector while the oil sector will be contribution only five per cent. “And somesteady increase from 2024 2025 to reach up to N280.70trillion in 2025.

This means that Nigeria continues to retain its position as the largest economy in Africa.” Responding to question on the depletion of the Excess Crude Account (ECA), the minister said the governors, also joint owners of the accounts, were aware of the withdrawals from the accounts. According to her, the account has not had accruals in the last four years because of the volatility of the commodity in the international market, adding that withdrawals from the accounts have always been in consultations with the National Economic Council (NEC). She said: “The last approval that was given by the council was the withdrawal of $1billion to enhance security.

We have been utilizing that – the last tranche of that has been finally released because deployment to security agencies are based on the contracts executed and it’s been used strictly for that security purpose. So, the utilization of the account is with the full knowledge of the governors.” Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, in his remarks, disclosed that his memo seeking to lease aircrafts for the commencement of the national carrier, Nigeria Air, and the deployment of investigation tool by Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) were approved by the Council. “That procurement is in the sum of €1,506,285.7, which is equivalent to N707,962,864.83 including taxes at Central Bank exchange rate of N472/€ with the delivery period of 11 months awarded to Messers integrated Contract Services Limited.

Read Previous

Insecurity: Account for $1bn security funds, Ortom tells Buhari

Read Next

INSECURITY: Senators give Buhari six weeks to end terrorism or face impeachment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *