The House of Representatives, yesterday, passed the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)/Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) for 2019-2021, with a charge to the Federal Government to consider an increase on taxes paid on luxury goods and services as a means of raising more revenue.
The MTEF/FSP was sent to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 6, last year.
The House pegged the oil benchmark at $60 per barrel with oil production at 2.3 million barrels per day (mpd)in line with the proposal of the executive arm of government. The House also adopted N305 to $1 as the exchange rate. The Green Chamber noted that the target of 2.3mpd crude oil production for 2019 is “achieveable due to the continuous efforts of all stakeholders in checkmating oil facilities vandalism and other vices associated with it.”
The House approved N1.64 trillion new borrowing to fund the deficit in the 2019 budget proposal and charged the Federal Government to fully harness the potential in the mines and steel sector to increase revenue generation from the sector and minimise the level of new borrowing.
Besides, it said the “Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should be encouraged to vigorously develop strategies that would strengthen the Naira and bridge the gap between the official and parallel market rates.
“The Federal Government should consider the reducing the granting of waivers and exemption, while ensuring that the Nigerian Customs Service personnel are at all oil terminals for accountability, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) should consider increasing tax on luxury goods and services,” the House added.
It equally directed that the 20 per cent surplus remittance by government owned enterprises should be deducted at source.
Lawmakers expressed concerns on the country’s debt profile to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, and faulted the proposed N1.64 trillion deficit in the 2019 budget.
In her contribution, Hon Betty Apiafi noted that “the national total debt stands at N22 trillion, and the committee is recommending N1.6 trillion, we are in this chamber and the debt is raising, and we are still spending trillions on fuel subsidy. I would have appreciate it if this document has the total amount spent on fuel subsidy.”