Barring last minute change of mind, President Muhammadu Buhari will tomorrow (Wednesday) sign the appropriation bill of N9.2trillion for the 2018 fiscal year into law.
The budget signing ceremony was initially scheduled to hold today, according to the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who spoke in London recently.
The signing of the N9.12trillion will hold at the presidential villa, Abuja in place of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) which has been postponed.
Both chambers of the National Assembly had on 16th of May passed the 2018 appropriation bill raising it by N500billion from N8.6trillion as presented six months ago by President Buhari to N9.12trillion.
The increment was attributed to increase in the price of crude oil at the international market which compelled oil benchmark proposed in the document by the executive from N45 to N51.
Exchange rate of N305 to a dollar and production of 2.3 million barrels of oil per day were adopted by both chambers of the parliament as proposed by the executive.
Recall that the Senate chamber of the parliament transmitted the document to President Buhari over three weeks ago.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang had told newsmen that President Buhari was carefully reviewing the fiscal document to ensure that there were no discrepancies in the bill before final assent.
As passed by the National Assembly, the budget will have a fiscal deficit of N1, 954, 464, 993, 775 and a deficit to GDP of -1.73 per cent.
Government has since expressed confidence that the delay in the passage and signing of the 2018 Budget will have no negative impact on the economy.
PeoplesDaily