In the first nine months of the year, the Federal Government
had spent N3.42tn out of the total N4.493tn spending approved in the
2015 budget.
These figures are contained in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework
and Fiscal Strategy Paper (2016-2018) sent by President Muhammadu Buhari
to the National Assembly.
The document was approved by the Federal Executive Council on Monday
and sent to both chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday for
deliberation and approval.
In the MTEF, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent, the
Federal Government said the N3.42tn was spent on both recurrent and
capital expenditure in the nine-month period.
It stated, “Of the total appropriation of N4.49tn and a supplementary
budget of N574.53bn for spending on security and emergency provision of
subsidy claims, N3.42tn had been spent as of September for both
recurrent and capital, with the shortfall in revenue inflow being made
up by additional financing from borrowing and other sources.
“Recurrent expenditure has been on track. About 78.1 per cent, that
is N1.77tn of the N2.23tn budgeted for the payment of salaries, pensions
and overheads has been released, while debt service has been largely
covered.”
The document stated that while recurrent expenditure had been on
track, capital spending had been lower than what was budgeted due to
revenue shortfalls.
The seventh Senate had in passing the 2015 budget, slightly reduced the
N2.607,601,000,300 proposed by the executive to N2.607,132,491,708 as
recurrent expenditure, and simultaneously scaled down the capital
expenditure from N642,848,999,699 estimated in the proposal to
N556,995,465,449.
The budget was based on $53 per barrel oil benchmark price, an
exchange rate of N190 to the United States dollar; 2.2782 million per
barrels of crude oil production per day; and a deficit Gross Domestic
Product of 1.12 per cent.
The document also put the fiscal deficit at N1.075tn; N953bn for debt service; and N375.6bn as statutory transfers.
Education took the lion’s share of the budget with N392.3bn; followed
by the military, which got N338.7bn, while police commands and
formations got N303.8bn.
In the same vein, N237bn was voted for the health sector; N153bn for
the Ministry of Interior, while N25.1bn was budgeted for the Ministry of
Works.
The MTEF stated, “Capital spending was lower than budgeted due to the
revenue challenges and the need to cater for pressing procurement needs
like payment of salaries and debt service.
“As of September, N194.77bn of the N557bn budgeted for capital spending had been spent by Ministries, Department and Agency
The country had in the last 18 months experienced price and commodity
shocks owing to decline in oil prices as well as crude oil theft and
pipeline vandalism.
Source:BusinessNews
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