Buhari Presents 2020 Budget Proposal To NASS [LIVE UPDATES]

President Muhammadu Buhari is currently presenting the 2020 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly.

Senate president, Ahmed Lawan, and speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, are hosting Buhari for the first time since the inauguration of the ninth National Assembly on June 11, 2019.

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, had said the federal government will propose N9.79 trillion as total expenditure in the 2020 budget to the National Assembly.

LIVE UPDATES:

14:40pm: President Buhari says domiciliary accounts in foreign missions will be captured in TSA, as well as for GOEs.

14:39pm: We will raise the threshold for VAT registration to N25m turnover per annum, to bring relief to our small(est) businesses.

14:39pm: Debt service is estimated at 2.45 trillion Naira, says President Buhari.

14:33pm: President Buhari says the receipts from VAT in the last budget year were below expectation

14:31pm: We are current on salaries and over head costs, says President Buhari.

14:25pm: The President gives a brief analysis of the premise upon which the budget has been put together.

14:18pm: President Buhari takes to the podium to address the joint session.

• President Buhari reels out the economic performance of his administration.
• We also succeeded in significantly reducing inflation from18.72 per cent in January 2017 to 11.02 per cent by August 2019, he said.
• The receipts from VAT in the last budget year were below expectation, Mr Buhari says giving reasons such as the last general elections.
• We met our budget servicing obligations, Mr Buhari says.
• The MTEF set out the parameters for the 2020 budget, the president says.
• The draft finance bill proposes a VAT increase of 4% to 7.5 %.
• Additional revenues will be used to fund health, education and infrastructure, the president says.
• President Buhari lists items exempted from VAT to include pharmaceuticals, some food such as fish, white and brown bread, etc.
• We shall continue the strict implementation of TSA, President Buhari says.