Nigeria's budget deficit is expected to narrow to roughly 3.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) next year from about 6.1% this year, President Bola Tinubu said on Wednesday.

Tinubu added in his first budget speech to lawmakers since being elected that spending priorities in 2024 would include security, infrastructure and measures to ease a cost-of-living crisis.

Tinubu, who has embarked on Nigeria's boldest reforms in decades, presented a 27.5 trillion naira ($34.85 billion) 2024 budget to the National Assembly that he expects will help expand the economy by a minimum of 3.76%.

His government is trying to balance the need to cushion citizens from the impact of double-digit inflation and the removal of a fuel subsidy with keeping spending in check by reducing borrowing.

(Reporting by Felix Onuah and Elisha Bala-Gbogbo Editing by Alexander Winning)