On 8 October 2020, the President, Muhammadu Buhari, presented the National Budget for the year 2021 to a joint session of the National Assembly consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 2021 Budget is titled ‘Economic Recovery and Resilience’ with the aim of promoting economic diversity and enhancing social inclusion due to COVID-19 pandemic. An aggregate expenditure of N13.08 trillion is proposed for the Federal Government in 2021. This includes N1.35 trillion spending by Government Owned Enterprises and Grants and Aid funded expenditures of N354.85 billion.

The government proposed to implement several measures to overcome their fiscal constraints. In addition to the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiatives, they are leveraging technology and automation, as well as more effective monitoring of Independently Generated Revenues. These efforts include:

a. Deregulation of the price of petroleum products;

b. Ongoing verification exercise with IPPIS; and

c. Implementation of service-based electricity tariffs.

The Government expanded the National Social Register, to include an additional one million Nigerians following the onset of Coronavirus. The proposal also introduced the N75 billion Survival Fund Programme to support and protect businesses from potential vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the Central Bank of Nigeria is reducing the interest rate on its intervention facilities from 9% to 5% with a 1-year moratorium till 31st March 2021, to provide concessional lending of:

a. N100 billion to households and small businesses;

b. N100 billion to the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry; and

c. N1 trillion to large agricultural and manufacturing businesses.