Breaking: Budget laid before House of Reps, raised to N9.1t

The 2018 Budget has been laid before the House of Representatives.
It was laid on Tuesday by the House Committee on Appropriations.
The version laid before the House showed it has been increased from N8.612 trillion to N9.1 trillion.
That of the Senate, which was also laid on Tuesday, remained at N8.612 trillion.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in November 2017 presented to a joint session of the National Assembly a budget estimate of N8.612 trillion for the 2018 fiscal year.
The key parameters and assumptions for the 2018 budget, with a deficit of N2.005 trillion as presented, include an oil benchmark of $45 per barrel, oil production estimate of 2.3 million barrels per day, exchange rate of N305/$ for 2018, real Gross Domestic Product growth of 3.5 per cent and an inflation rate of 12.4 per cent.
The proposed N8.612 trillion of the 2018 aggregate expenditure comprises recurrent costs of N3.494 trillion; debt service of N2.014 trillion; statutory transfers of about N456 billion, sinking fund of N220 billion (to retire maturing bond to local contractors) as well as capital expenditure of N2.652 trillion which is the 30.8 per cent of the entire budget.
The Senate is yet to fix a date for the consideration of the budget.