The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed Tuesday said the federal government had released a total sum of N1.2 trillion for capital projects in the revised 2020 budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added that as at the end of September, the sum N2.14 trillion had also been disbursed to cater for debt service obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The minister said as at the end of August 2020, the FGN’s revenue available for budget funding (excluding Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) was N2.52 trillion, representing 71 per cent of the revenue target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The revenue sources included N1.105 trillion from FGN share of oil revenues (representing 164 per cent
performance, over and above the prorated sum in the revised 2020 budget).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said non-oil tax revenues totalled N831.41 billion or 77 per cent of the revised target while Companies Income Tax (CIT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) collections were N447.52 billion and N117.75 billion, representing 82 per cent and 62 per respectively
of the pro-rata revised targets for the period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Customs collections were N266.14 billion (77 per cent of revised target) while Other revenues amounted to N583.82 billion, of which independent revenue was N281.81 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the expenditure side, N9.97 trillion was appropriated (excluding GOEs and project tied loans), while N6.25 trillion (representing 93.9 per cent of the pro-rata N6.65 trillion) was spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahmed said of the expenditure, N2.14 trillion was for debt service, and N2.18 trillion for Personnel cost, including Pensions, adding that as at the end of August 2020, N761.79 billion had been released for capital expenditure, rising to N1.2 trillion by the end of September 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She, however, pointed out that to fund the proposed N13.08 trillion 2021 budget, several measures are being instituted to improve government revenue and entrench a regime of prudence with emphasis on achieving value for money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: “The goal of fiscal interventions will be to
keep the economy active through carefully calibrated regulatory\/policy measures designed to
boost domestic value-addition, de-risk the enterprise environment, attract external investment
and sources of funding, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Improving the tax administration framework to optimize government revenue is a significant thrust of the Administration’s Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have included a Tax Expenditure Statement (TES) as part of documents accompanying the
2021 Budget to the National Assembly, which seeks to dimension the cost of tax waivers\/concessions, and evaluate their policy effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tax expenditures (TEs) are currently estimated as
(1) CIT N1.18tr,
(2) VAT N3.1tr,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Imports 64bn. Going forward, we will set annual ceilings on TEs to better manage their
impact on already constrained government revenues.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n