For the first time this week, the naira recovered significantly against the United States’ dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the country’s official exchange rate window.
According to data from FMDQ Securities Exchange, the local currency opened at N805.83/$1 and closed at N831.47/$1, N831, recovering from the N881.88 it recorded on Tuesday in the official market.
However, according to Aboki FX, the parallel market steadied again at N1,160/$1 on Monday and Tuesday at the parallel market.
The recovery was in response to President Bola Tinubu’s N27.5 trillion 2024 Appropriation Bill, tagged “Budget of Renewed Hope,” which he presented Wednesday to the National Assembly.
The president projected the economy to grow by an impressive 3.76 per cent in the 2024 fiscal year. The recurrent expenditure is set at N9.92 trillion, while capital expenditure is N8.7 trillion.
“Accordingly, an aggregate expenditure of N27.5 trillion is proposed for the Federal Government in 2024, of which the non-debt recurrent expenditure is N9.92 trillion, while debt service is projected to be N8.25 trillion and capital expenditure N8.7 trillion.”
He assured of Nigeria’s commitment to meeting its debt obligations, with projected debt service 45 per cent of the expected total revenue. Tinubu stated: “The budget deficit is projected at N9.18 trillion in 2024 or 3.88 per cent of GDP.
“This is lower than the N13.78 trillion deficit recorded in 2023, which represented 6.11 per cent of GDP.
“The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totaling N7.83 trillion, N298.49 billion from privatisation proceeds, and N1.05 trillion drawn down on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.”
