The Senate on Tuesday approved the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, even as the lawmakers pegged the benchmark for oil at $47 per barrel.
The Senate’s decision was sequel to the consideration of the Report of the Joint Committees on Finance, Appropriations and National Planning and Economic Affairs.
In the report submitted by Senator John Enoh for consideration, the joint committees recommended the adoption of 2.3 million per barrel daily as proposed by the Executive for the 2018 budget.
The joint committees also concurred with the adoption of N305/US Dollar as proposed by the Executive for the budget.
The joint committees however asked the Central Bank of Nigeria to initiate measures that would close the gap between the parallel market and official exchange rate.
The Senate also in agreement with the report recommended the adoption of the projected N5.279 trillion for non oil revenue in 2018.
The Senate also demanded that revenue generation agencies should intensity their revenue collection drives in order to boost the non-oil components of the revenue.
In addition, the Senate adopted N1.699 trillion new borrowing for 2018 as proposed by the Executive, insisting that they should be on project-tied basis.
The Senate added that in borrowing more, the government must remain focused and ensure it is used to fund critical projects that would increase productivity and also contribute to financing such debt.