Jonathan to sign 2012 budget today

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan will assent to the 2012 Appropriation Bill today, having apparently resolved his differences with the National Assembly on the matter which has delayed its signing since being passed by the legislature.The signing of the N4.7 trillion budget will take place in the State House, at a ceremony expected to be witnessed by leaders of the National Assembly, ministers and other top officials of government.The president had been reluctant to append his signature to the document, because of the changes made by the National Assembly to the original estimates he submitted to the lawmakers for their consideration and approval.Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had given reasons President Jonathan was yet to sign the budget, telling State House correspondents after a meeting of the National Economic Management Team that government was studying the details because of the changes made by the legislature.She had revealed that the executive would meet with the leadership of the National Assembly to find a common ground on the areas where there might be differences.Pressed to point out the specific areas of differences, the minister said an example was the crude oil benchmark eventually adopted by the lawmakers.According to her, 'obviously, the first one is the benchmark price that went from $70 to $72, which we have looked into. We are still ending up with fiscal deficit that is reasonable and under three per cent and reduced debt, that is okay.
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