Senate to reduce 6trn proposed import waiver  by 50%

The Senate will reduce the import duties waivers proposed for the N19.76trillion 2023 budget with attendant deficit of N12.4 trillion.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Sen. Solomon Adeola made this known in Abuja on Tuesday, at an interactive session.

He said the senate would reduce the N6 trillion proposed as import waiver for companies in the 2023- 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper(FSP) with revenue generating agencies.

Adeola said the reduction became necessary, given the projected deficit of N12.4 trillion in the 2023 budget estimates and the current dwindling revenue profile of the nation.

The Minster of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed in her presentation on overview of 2023-2025 MTEF/ FSP disclosed that the Federal Government revenue for 2023 was projected at N6.34 trillion.

She, however, expressed hope that the parliament would see a better way of ensuring exist of fuel subsidy.

The revenue generating agencies are expected to appear at the five-day programme to make presentation on their revenue projections for the 2023-2025 MTEF-FSP includes the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Ports Authority, amongst others.