We Released N336bn For Capital Projects For First Quarter –Minister of Finance

The Federal Government said it has released a total sum of N336bn for the implementation of capital projects contained in the 2017 budget.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who confirmed this in a statement issued on Tuesday, said the amount was for the first quarter of this year.

The 2017 budget, christened Budget of Recovery and Growth, was presented to the National Assembly on 14th December 2016, and passed by the lawmakers on the 11th of May, 2017.

The fiscal document, which was signed into law then 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.

She said while the ministry had earlier announced that N350bn would be released, the sum of N336bn has been made available to Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.

Out of this amount, the minister said the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing got the highest allocation of N90bn.

This is followed by the Ministry of Defence with N71bn, while while Transport Ministry got N30bn.

Furthermore, she said Agriculture Ministry received N30bn, Water Resources got N12bn, while other sectors combined received a total sum of N103bn.

Adeosun said the prioritization of the release of available funds was made in accordance with the objectives of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

She said the Federal Government will continue to focus on capital expenditure spending on priority sectors to stimulate economic activities and job creation.

The statement quoted her to have said, “Despite fiscal constraints, the Federal Government was able to fully cash-back the budgeted capital releases so far made, which is a reflection of the current administration’s commitment to economic development.”

The 2017 budget with capital allocation of N2.36tn was targeted at projects that are aligned with the core execution priorities of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

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