Business
LCCI Seeks Speedy Signing Of 2019 Budget
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has commended the Senate for the passage of the 2019 budget and called for expeditious signing of the bill into law.
The Director-General of LCCI, Mr Muda Yusuf, made the appeal while speaking with newsmen in Lagos, yesterday.
It would be recalled that the Senate passed the 2019 Appropriation Bill of N8.916 trillion on April 30.
The budget is N86 billion higher than the proposal of N8.83 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly on December 19, 2018.
A breakdown of the budget estimate reveals that the budget for statutory transfer is N502.58 billion, N2.25 trillion is for debt servicing, recurrent expenditure is N4.65 trillion, while N2.94 trillion is for capital expenditure.
Yusuf urged President Buhari to assent to the bill once it was transmitted to him by the National Assembly.
“We are aware that the President is not in the country, but we expect the bill to be signed into law immediately he returns to the country,” he said.
Yusuf said that areas that required review should be done fast, saying that the economy needed the budget as impetus to boost productivity, employment and infrastructure development.
“We hope that as this administration starts its second term and the Ninth Assembly resumes, we would return to a January to December budget cycle,” he said.
He said that January to December budget cycle would ensure stability, reduce uncertainty and boost investors’ confidence in budget implementation and performance.