Temitayo Okereji
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this during the public presentation of the 2023 Federal Government budget.
The N21trn 2023 budget was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday after it’s passage by the National Assembly last week.
The Finance Minister disclosed that in the 2023 fiscal period, the government has made provisions of N3.36trn for fuel subsidy payment to cover the first six months of this year.
This, she stated, is in line with the 18-month extension announced in early 2022.
She said, “The projected fiscal outcome in the 2023 Budget is based on the PMS subsidy reform scenario.
“In the 2023 Budget framework, it is assumed that petrol subsidy will remain up to mid-2023 based on the 18-month extension announced early 2022.
“In this regard, only N3.36trn has been provided for PMS subsidy. There will be tighter enforcement of the performance management framework for Government Owned Enterprises that will significantly increase operating surplus/dividend remittances in 2023.”
On actual spending from the 2022 budget, she said as of November 30, it was N12.87trn
Of this amount, N5.24trn was for debt service; N3.94trn for personnel costs including pensions; statutory transfers, overhead and service wide votes expenditures totalled N8.1trn.