President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday assented to the 2012 Appropriation Bill of N4.697 trillion.
In his remarks before signing the budget, Jonathan said the aggregate expenditure excluded the N180 billion appropriated for projects under the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme.
Jonathan said the 2012 budget was geared towards supporting economic growth and employment creation.
He explained that the total revenue forecast was N3.561 trillion, based on a benchmark oil price of 72 dollars per barrel which was two dollars higher than the initial proposal of $70 per barrel.
ThePresident had presented to the National Assembly in December 2011, a budget proposal of N4.749 trillion based on a benchmark oil price of $70 per barrel.
The National Assembly on March 15 passed a budget of N4.88 trillion on a benchmark oil price of $72 per barrel.
The increase in the benchmark from $70 to $72 had yielded for the Federal Government about N98.4 billion.
The President said the additional resources were used to increase the capital and to reduce the deficit to a manageable level that could be financed without excessive borrowing.
On the details of the budget, Jonathan said capital expenditure was put at N1.34 trillion, which was about 28.5 per cent of the aggregate expenditure.
He said the non-debt recurrent expenditure was N2.425 trillion, which translated to 52 per cent of the total budget compared to 54 per cent of the aggregate budget in 2011.
The President said the capital expenditure would be substantially used to complete and exit the large stock of ongoing projects and programmes.
He said the decision was in line with the transformation agenda of the government to quickly deliver tangible and significant projects to Nigerians.
Jonathan said his administration would involve the private sector in the development of critical infrastructure.
He explained that the share of the recurrent spending in aggregate expenditure had declined from 74.4 per cent in 2011 to 71.5 per cent in 2012.
He put the deficit at 2.85 percent of GDP, which according to him, was in line with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 which pegs it at 3 per cent of the GDP.
Jonathan noted that the robust growth experienced in recent years needed to be translated into tangible and concrete improvement in the living standards of Nigerians.
He said the government would focus on investments in priority sectors in order to sustain economic growth and create jobs.
The President thanked the National Assembly and other stakeholders for their hard work and cooperation in the passage of the budget.
The Punch