President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday deferred the presentation of the 2014 budget before a joint session of the National Assembly.

This was contained in a letter to Senate President David Mark dated November 18, 2013.

Jonathan had requested the Senate to grant him the slot on November 19, 2013 from the initial November 12 date to enable him address a joint session of the two chambers.

The President, however, cited the disparity in the benchmark agreed by the two chambers as reason for his inability to present the budget this time around.

He said the budget would be presented as soon as the Senate and House harmonised their positions on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF.

“The distinguished Senate has approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) based on a benchmark of 76.5 dollars per barrel while the House of Representatives used a benchmark of 79 dollars per barrel,” the President pointed out.

He said it was not feasible for him to present the budget in the absence of a harmonised position on the MTEF.

The letter read further: “In the circumstance, it has become necessary to defer the presentation of the 2014 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly until such a time when both chambers may have harmonised their positions on MTEF.”