Nigeria: Buhari yet to approve 2016 budget

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to approve the country’s 2016 budget bill.

According to a government official, Buhari declined to sign the budget bill passed by law markers last week until he is provided with further details.

Reports indicate that the president does not know the content of the bill as well as the adjustments made to it by National Assembly.

This is another setback for the record 6 trillion naira budget, (approximately $30 billion) for Africa’s largest economy.

The long awaited 2016 appropriation bill was passed by the legislature after it was rid off tens of millions of dollars.

President Buhari presented the budget to a joint session of the National Assembly last year in December. Since then, the appropriation bill has been under immense scrutiny from the public who have questioned some of the allocations in light of the country’s economic state.

In January, Buhari withdrew the budget to make changes after a further drop in oil prices. The global slump forced the West African nation’s deficit to climb up by 50 per cent to 3 million naira ($15 billion).

Nigeria will finance the deficit with borrowing from the African Development Bank and China Exim Bank.

Africa’s largest economy is reeling from the oil slump causing its economy to grow by a mere 2.8 percent in 2015, its slowest pace over a decade.