FG to release additional N750bn for 2017 capital projects
The Federal Government has said that it will release additional N750billion this week to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for implementation of the capital projects contained in the 2017 Budget.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, disclosed this on Monday in her office during a meeting with a delegation of investors from France in Abuja led by Mr. Philip Labonn.
According to Adeosun, the delegation is made up of 30 companies from France that have expressed readiness to invest in key sectors of the Nigerian economy, adding that the Federal Government was building a new path for the Nigerian economy away from its dependence on oil production.
She said that the government had previously released N450billion for capital projects, adding that with the additional N750billion a total sum of N1.2trillion would have been invested in infrastructure projects.
She disclosed that 75 per cent of the Nigerian economy is currently agriculture but noted that the government is working on a range of reforms to make the economy more productive and buoyant.
“Our currency, the naira, is fairly priced and stable. We’re mobilizing revenue from taxes and we now have a data that is able to correctly assess tax payers. We see growth in the services sector, the manufacturing sector, and the banking sector. We also see opportunities in the power sector,” Adeosun told the delegation.
“What the government is doing is to provide enabling infrastructure that would bring potential into reality.
“Last year we released N1.3tn of capital and so far this year we have released N450bn and this week we will release another N750bn and this will take the release to N1.2tn by the end of the year,” the minister said.
Adeosun, who noted that businesses in Nigeria cannot compete without infrastructure, also maintained that the investors will not be willing to come to the country to do business if the issue of corruption is not addressed.
The leader of the delegation Mr. Labonn, congratulated the government for the recovery programmes carried out in the country moving it away from recession to growth.
The 2017 budget, christened Budget of Recovery and Growth, was presented to the National Assembly on December 14, 2016, and passed by the lawmakers in May.
The fiscal document, which was signed into law by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on June 12, 2017 had a total expenditure of N7.44trn out of which N2.99trn was for non-debt recurrent spending, N2.36trn for capital expenditure while debt servicing was to gulp N1.66trn.
Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
