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Nigeria’s Tinubu to present N27.5trn budget on Wednesday

Published

5 months ago

November 28, 2023

The Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, will present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the country’s bicameral legislature, the National Assembly, on Wednesday.

The bill is an increase from the N26.01tn earlier considered by the council, according to the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, who confirmed the approval to State House correspondents after the close of FEC’s weekly meeting presided over by President Tinubu.

In addition, the minister disclosed that the government had projected N18 trillion in revenue for the fiscal year 2024. Bagudu stated that more information regarding the appropriation bill would be made public on Wednesday when the president brought it before a joint session of the National Assembly.

The minister stated that the Council was currently reviewing the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, which was approved by the National Assembly.

Bagudu said, “Equally, the Federal Executive Council approved the 2024 Appropriation Bill and the presentation of such to the National Assembly by His Excellency, Mr. President.

“The bill has an aggregate expenditure of N27.5tn which is an increase of over N1.5tn from the previously estimated, using the old reference prices.”

He added, “The forecast revenue is now N18.32tn which is higher than the 2023 revenues, including that provided in the two supplementary budgets. Equally and commendably, the deficit is lower than that of 2023. Details of the Renewed Hope Budget will be announced by Mr. President when he makes the presentation to the National Assembly”.

With two key policy initiatives—halting the fiscal bleeding caused by petrol subsidies, and unifying the exchange rate—the Nigerian government, led by Bola Tinubu, has attempted to stabilise the economy of the nation. With its currency value declining even further and the cost of living rising sharply, the results have not been favourable.

Related Topics:2024 budget Featured Nigeria

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ExxonMobil ‘optimistic’ over Mozambique LNG project

Published

20 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to a company spokesman on Thursday, ExxonMobil is “optimistic and pushing forward” with its postponed Rovuma liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique and anticipates a final investment decision before the end of next year.

In offshore Area 4 in northern Mozambique, ExxonMobil and its partner Enivare are developing the Rovuma LNG project. Exxon is in charge of building and running the onshore liquefaction and associated facilities, while Eni is focused on the Coral floating LNG and upstream activities.

ExxonMobil was also impacted by the development of shared and common facilities, such as an LNG jetty and offloading facility when TotalEnergies declared force majeure in 2021 in response to an offensive by militants linked to the Islamic State that threatened its Area 1 Mozambique LNG project.

“We recognise there are challenges and there are. We recognise that those challenges can be overcome if we work together,” Arne Gibbs, general manager at ExxonMobil Mozambique, told an energy conference in Maputo.

“My message is quite simple … We are optimistic, we are pushing forward,” he said of a project expected to enter a front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase in a few months.
Originally planned for 15 million metric tons per year (mtpa), the project has been changed to a modern, electric, modular facility capable of producing 18 mtpa of LNG, which is more flexible and emits fewer harmful pollutants, according to Gibbs.

“It was important to change our design to a project that is ready-made, that is fit for purpose for the current business environment, including the attention to CO2 emissions and GHG (greenhouse gases),” he added.

Credit Agricole declared in March that it would not lend money to two significant LNG projects, including Rovuma, on the grounds that it had made a pledge to abstain from further fossil fuel ventures.

According to Gibbs, the business acknowledged that the intervention of a regional military force and Rwanda’s military assistance to Mozambique had resulted in a notable improvement in the security environment.

In February, Exxon announced that it was keeping an eye on security developments in the province of Cabo Delgado, where terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State have been launching new attacks this year.

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Nigeria’s Insurance Corporation raises maximum deposit coverage from N500k to N5m

Published

23 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The maximum deposit insurance coverage levels for Deposit Money Banks has been raised by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) on Thursday from N500,000 to N5 million.

At a news conference in Abuja, NDIC Managing Director Bello Hassan declared this effective immediately. He said, “For Deposit Money Banks, the increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N500,000 to N5,000,000, would provide full coverage of 98.98% of the total depositors compared with the current cover of 89.20%. Regarding the value of deposits covered, the revised coverage would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 25.37% compared with the current cover of 6.31% of the total value of deposits.

“The increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N200,000 to N2,000,000 would provide full coverage of 99.27% of the total depositors compared with the current level of 98.76% and would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 34.43% compared with 14.38% of the total value of deposit, currently covered.

“The increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N500,000 to N2,000,000 would provide full coverage of 99.34% of the total depositors compared with the current 97.98% and would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 21.04% compared with 10.77% of the total value of the deposit, currently covered.”

Additionally, Hassan said that increasing the maximum deposit insurance coverage for primary mortgage banks from N500,000 to N2,000,000 would cover all depositors, or 99.99% of them, and increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance from the current 40.60% cover to 43.10% of the total deposit value.

Additionally, the Corporation increased the maximum pass-through deposit insurance coverage for each Mobile Money Operator subscriber from N500,000 to N5,000,000.