President Bola Tinubu has announced that the 2025 budget aims to reduce inflation from the current 34.6% to 15% by next year.
Speaking on Tuesday while presenting the ₦47.9 trillion budget proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly, the President also forecast an improvement in the exchange rate, moving from around ₦1,700 per US dollar to ₦1,500.
“This is an ambitious but necessary budget to secure our future,” Tinubu declared. He explained that the projections are supported by factors such as reduced reliance on imported petroleum products, increased export of refined products, a bumper agricultural harvest driven by improved security, and a reduced dependency on food imports.
The budget is also underpinned by a crude oil production assumption of 2.06 million barrels per day.
Tinubu outlined key allocations in the proposed budget, including ₦4.91 trillion for defence and security, ₦4.06 trillion for infrastructure, ₦2.4 trillion for health, and ₦3.5 trillion for education.
The announcement comes as Nigerians face severe economic challenges, with inflation surging to 34.6% in November 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This represents a 0.72% rise from October’s inflation rate of 33.88%.
The NBS also reported that food inflation reached 39.93% year-on-year in November, marking a 7.08 percentage point increase compared to November 2023, when the rate stood at 32.84%.
Despite the daunting figures, the President remains optimistic that the proposed budget will help stabilise the economy and address these challenges.
