TheCable

Udoma Udoma, minister of budget national planning, says the 2019 budget proposal is ready but the national assembly is yet to fix a date for its presentation.

Udoma made this known during a press briefing at the end of the federal executive council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, who had approved the estimates of the budget proposal during a special FEC meeting on Friday.

Udoma said it is now left for the national assembly to give a date for the submission of the budget proposal.

“As you already know, the budget is ready. We are liaising with the national assembly because they are to give us a date. If they say today, we will go. The budget is ready,” he said.

In October, the council had approved the 2019-2021 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) and fiscal strategy paper (FSP), and forwarded same to the national assembly for its consideration and approval.

In the following month, Udoma announced that the government was considering a reduced budget of N8.6 trillion, compared to the N9.1 trillion approved by the national assembly for 2018.

He said the decision was due to reduced government revenue projection for the year.