Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has requested the National Assembly to increase the 2024 appropriation act by N6.2 trillion, raising the budget from N28.7 trillion to N34.9 trillion.
The amendment aims to allocate N3.2 trillion to what the President described as “Renewed Hope Infrastructure Projects and other critical infrastructure projects.” In a letter addressed to the parliament Wednesday, the president said the balance of N3 trillion will be used for recurrent expenditures.
He said the additional budgetary provision will be “funded by accruals to the federal government of Nigeria.”
Tinubu also requested that the National Assembly amend the Finance Act of 2023 to tax massive windfalls obtained by banks from foreign exchange transactions.
In June 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria officially unified the multiple FX rate systems, collapsing all FX windows into the investors’ and exporters’ (I&E) window. This policy depreciated the local currency, giving considerable savings to institutions like banks with substantial foreign exchange stock.
The president claims the tax with the banks will be used to “fund capital infrastructure development, education, and healthcare as well as welfare initiatives, all of which are components of the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
On September 12, 2023, the CBN directed banks to stop using gains from the naira’s revaluation to pay dividends or finance operations.
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