Senate receives MTEF, FSP documents from Buhari

The Senate on Wednesday announced formally the receipt of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) from President Muhammadu Buhari.

The MTEF and FSP documents came with a covering letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan.

President Buhari, in the letter read on the floor of the upper chamber during plenary, commended the effort of the lawmakers towards ensuring a cordial working relationship between the legislature and executive arms of government.

The letter read: “It is with pleasure that I hereby submit the 2020 - 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) to the Senate.

“Let me use this medium to express my gratitude for the much improved partnership between the legislative and the executive arms of the Federal government in our goal of making the budget process deliver better outcomes for the Nigerian people in particular.

“I note with further appreciation, the commitment and support that Distinguished Senators have continued to demonstrate. Pursuant to the provision of the fiscal responsibility Act 2007, the preparation towards the submission of the 2020 budget to the National Assembly is progressing well.”

The President stated that key developments of the global and domestic environments were taken into consideration in the preparation of the MTEF/FSP.

He added that the Government strived to ensure that forecasted revenues were not only realistic, but also reasonably challenging in the face of its significantly constrained fiscal space.

“Planned spending has been set at prudent and sustainable levels consistent with governments overall developmental objectives as set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

“Given our shared objective of returning the budget to a predictable January – December fiscal year, with effect from 2020, I hereby forward the 2020/2022 FSP to the Distinguished Senate and trust that it would be extensively considered in order to facilitate the 2020 MTEF budget preparation,” the President said.