After activating 2020 budget implementation, Federal Government has proposed to spend ₦11.86 trillion in 2021.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, made this revelation while presenting the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) 2021-2023 in Abuja on Friday.

Notwithstanding this adventurous spending projection, Zainab Ahmed also stated that the country’s fiscal futunes will suffer a deficit of ₦5.16 trillion because of government’s projected ability to generate only ₦6.98 trillion revenue in 2021.

Interestingly, while Naira has been devalued to ₦380/$, the minister pegged exchange rate in the 2021 fiscal year at ₦360/$.

2021-2023 MTEF/FSP is the pre-budget statement that provides the framework for the development of 2021 Budget.

Ahmed said “it is being framed against the backdrop of a challenging global macroeconomic environment as well as domestic factors.”

The government, she said, will “aim to keep the deficit within the 3% ceiling over the medium term, and therefore working on identifying new revenue sources and/or cost reductions.”

The draft 2021 – 2023 MTEF/FSP she noted “has been prepared against the backdrop of heightened global economic uncertainty.”

According to her, “the medium-term outlook for Nigeria suggests that fiscal risks are somewhat elevated, largely due to Covid-19 related disruptions which have exacerbated structural weaknesses in the economy.”

The Nation