The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma has confirmed that N460 billion has been disbursed by the Federal Government for the implementation of the 2018 budget.
The was further confirmed by Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Paul Ella Abechi in Egypt.
The statement read:
“The amount of capital releases as of today is N460 billion. We just need a resolution of the National Assembly on the borrowing plan so that we can fund it even more. We are spending money on N-Power, school feeding, Trader Moni. We are conscious to meet the needs of the vulnerable.”
In the Fiscal Strategy Paper of the Federal Government, which was obtained from the Budget Office of the Federation in Abuja, shows the Federal Government is planning to spend a total of N8.9 trillion in the 2019 fiscal period.
The N8.9 trillion proposed is an increase of N305.86 billion over the original estimates of N8.61 trillion 2018 fiscal year budget presented to the legislature by President Muhammadu Buhari. This is also N220 billion lower than the N9.12 trillion approved 2018 budget, which was passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President.
The government is also planning to raise a total of N6.32 trillion as revenue next year to finance the budget.
The N6.32 trillion, when compared to the N7.16 trillion revenue projection approved for the current year, represents a decline of about N840 billion.
As a result of the planned increase in spending, the fiscal deficit of the government is expected to rise from the current N1.9 trillion to N2.59 trillion in 2019.
Recall that the National Assembly had passed the 2018 budget 6 months after its presentation by the Executive.