According to Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, President Bola Tinubu's administration will double the country's GDP and raise revenue without raising taxes.

Bagudu gave this assurance on Friday during an interview with Arise Television.

The minister said, the 2024 budget calls for a significant improvement in both the amount of capital investment and the overall deficit, with rating agencies worldwide seeing this as a positive development.

Talking about the current revenue problems that the Nigerian government faces, the minister said, “Our revenue challenge has been there. We have recognised it; we can do better.

“And we have a president who is very clear; he is very profound in the way he thinks, and his ambitions are realistic, and we believe he will double this economy and collect more revenue even without increasing tax rates so that public investments will improve.”

Speaking on the 2024 budget, Bagudu stated that the renewed hope budget comes from the renewed hope agenda, which drew from the national agreement that Nigeria needs to expand at a quicker rate.

“The most recent of that consensus is contained in Agenda 2050, which is a long-term perspective plan that was drawn on by us, the private sector, the public sector, sub-nationals, federal civil society organizations, and other stakeholders.

“And that recognises that we need to grow at a much higher rate of growth than we have been experiencing in the last decade and a half. And equally, we need to mobilise private capital, because Agenda 2050 estimated that we need investments at the minimum of the sum of at least $100 billion, with less than 20% of it coming from the public sector,” he said.

Bagudu further stated, “Our budget should emanate from a plan, and we must maintain a plan, and that institutional realignment is what brought the division, that a plan-based budget, which is part of what the 2024 budget is, and a budget that will support the restoration of macroeconomic stability, and it is such restoration that we believe will give the private sector the pride of place or confidence that they can invest.”