FG releases N1.573trn Capital Budget – Finance minister

…Buhari to dialogue with incoming lawmakers on 2019 budget deficit

Joseph Inokotong, Abuja

The Federal Government said it has so far released total sum of N1.573 trillion as capital Budget for 2018.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance; Mrs. Zainab Ahmed Tuesday in Abuja at the breakdown session of 2019 FGN approved Budget.

She explained that the 2019 Budget of Continuity will further reposition the economy on the path of higher, inclusive, diversified and sustainable growth, and contribute to lifting significant numbers of Nigerians out of poverty.

According to Mrs. Ahmed, the Budget is another step in the achievement of the objectives the ERGP, namely Restoring Macroeconomic Stability; Agriculture and Food Security; Energy Sufficiency (in Power and Petroleum Products); Transportation Infrastructure; and Industrialization (focusing on SMEs).

She informed that “Government will continue to create the enabling environment for the private sector to increase investment so as to increase productivity, create jobs and stimulate further growth”.

Meanwhile, the 2019 appropriation bill signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday includes an overall unfunded deficit of over N102.83 billion.

The president had submitted the 2019 budget of N8.83trillion to the Senate but was increased by about N10billion by the Upper House, bringing the amount to N8.92trillion.

The outgoing Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, in Abuja on Tuesday during the public presentation of the “2019 Budget of Continuity”, said that the revenue assumptions in the budget proposal submitted by President Buhari on December 19, 2018, were generally approved and adopted by the National Assembly.