REPORT
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Wednesday presented a budget proposal of N497.277 billion to the state House of Assembly for the 2013 fiscal year.
The budget, comprising capital expenditure of N268.364 billion and recurrent figure of N139.173 billion exceeds the 2012 by 1.08 per cent.
Its capital to recurrent ratio is 54:46 as against 53:47 in 2012.
The sectoral allocation of the budget in size and percentage, according to Fashola, who made the presentation at the Assembly chambers at Alausa, are as follows: General Public Service- N114.076 billion which amounts to 22.94 per cent, public order & safety- N18.799billion which is 3.78 per cent, economic affairs-N156.273billion which is-31.43 per cent, environmental protection-N44.131billion which is 8.87 per cent, housing and community amenities-N46.149 billion which is -9.28 per cent, Health- N42.498 billion which is 8.55 per cent, Recreation, Culture & Religion-N5.749 billion which amounts to 1.16 per cent, Education-N64.343 billion which is 12.94 per cent, Social Protection-N3.259billion which amounts to 0.66 per cent, Contingency-N2 billion which is 0.44 per cent all totalling N497.277 billion.
Fashola explained that in keeping faith with the promise that he made during the 2012 budget presentation to gradually reduce the deficit and borrowing as the tenure approaches its terminal date, it had moved from a borrowing of N89 billion in 2011, to N66 billion in 2012 and now proposed a further reduction to N40 billion.
“The size of the deficit is manifestly reducing while our Consolidated Debt Service Account has grown to N60 billion and will reach N95 billion by the end of our tenure and that will be after we would have repaid the N50 billion first tranche of the Bond Series,” he stated.
The governor also said the proposed deficit financing requirement for the 2013 budget is N40.537 billion which is 0.3 per cent of the state’s GDP compared to 1.19 per cent which was earmarked in Year 2012.
Other highlights of the Year 2013 budget are capital receipts which is estimated at N22.912 billion and made up of Grants-N3.000 billion, investment income-N0.332 billion and Other capital receipts-N19.580 billion while capital expenditure totals N268.364 billion and consists of core capital-N237.209 billion, capital development (Dedicated)-N19.580 billion, grants-N3 billion, counterpart funding-2.5 billion, special expenditure-N5 billion, risk retention fund-N7.5 bilion, contingency reserve-N1 billion.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, while speaking at the occasion, said the Assembly would give the necessary expeditious legislative consideration of the proposed budget.
He also commended the executive for the accelerated progress made so far in the state and commended the courage of the governor for translating the vision of previous leaders to reality.
Ikuforiji added that the Assembly would continue to forge the necessary executive-legislative harmony in order to achieve the shared goal of maximum dividends of democracy to the people of the state.
Source:ThisDay
Comments