YRD asks ruling party to end budget row

Nigeria’s president on Thursday asked the ruling party to step in and resolve a row between the two chambers of parliament over where he should present the 2010 budget, in the hope he can unveil the spending plans next week.
President Umaru Yar’Adua had been due to present the budget proposals for next year to a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives on Thursday but a dispute broke out over which chamber should host the presentation.
He was forced to cancel until the row is resolved.
“The president has asked the (ruling party) PDP leadership to wade into the issue and we hope it can be resolved by this weekend so he can go and present the budget next week,” presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said.
Local media speculated that the president might send the budget proposals to parliament with a covering letter rather than appearing in person but a presidential aide said that would be against the law and he was waiting for a new date to be set.

Yar’Adua is expected to seek approval to breach a 3 percent deficit target for the second year in a row when he finally does present the spending plans for sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest economy, government sources have said.
The latest draft discussed with the cabinet on Wednesday suggests the president will propose aggregate spending of 4.07 trillion naira ($27 billion), a sharp rise which would push the country’s deficit to 4.87 percent of GDP, one source said.
That would again mean sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest economy breaching a budget deficit target of 3 percent set under a 2007 fiscal responsibility act. [ID:nLJ357139]
Other government sources noted the spending figure could still change before being presented to parliament.
The source said the rise in spending was due to higher proposed capital expenditure of 1.37 trillion naira, funds meant largely for development projects in the Niger Delta and to rehabilitate the ailing power sector, as well as to help stimulate the broader economy.
The row delaying the presentation is the latest twist in a battle for superiority between the two parliamentary chambers.
The two houses have been at odds since January over who should chair a joint committee meant to review the country’s 1999 constitution. There have been no joint parliamentary sessions since then.

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