Two weeks after the National Assembly transmitted the 2017 budget to the executive, the Federal Government on Wednesday said it has commenced the review and assessment of the budget passed by the legislature.

Making this disclosure while briefing journalists at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said ministers were currently reviewing and analysing the budget.

Udoma, who said the government took cognisance of the expiration of the lifespan of 2016 budget this month, added that when the review is eventually completed, a decision on the budget would be taken.

Udoma also reported that the council was excited with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which had revealed on Tuesday that the country’s economic contraction decelerated in the first quarter of 2017.

He said FEC was excited because the reported also revealed that the manufacturing sector grew by 1.36 per cent, while agriculture grew by 3.9 per cent during the quarter under review.

Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, for four consecutive quarters, had contracted. According to Udoma, the GDP results on a sectorial basis for the first quarter of the year were the best that had been recorded in the last four quarters, explaining that the council was also excited because it showed that the government was on the right trajectory.

“One of the things that we discussed in council were the GDP results for the first quarter which were released yesterday (Tuesday) by the National Bureau of Statistics.

“We found the results for the first quarter GDP performance encouraging, even though we are still in a recession but we found it very encouraging.

“It’s the best result we’ve had in the last three or four quarters and it’s a sign that we are moving out of the recession. In particular, we were encouraged by manufacturing that grew by 1.36 per cent, whereas previously, the sector had been contracting. But now it is growing.

“Of course, agriculture is growing at 3.9 per cent; in mining and other metals, we are also growing in those areas, but we realised that we still have to work very hard.

“We are committed to continuing with the economic growth and recovery plan. We also believe that with the interventions we are making and all the steps we are taking, we are in the right direction. So we are encouraged by the economic trajectory,” Udoma said.