Capital budget releases for 2013 hit N1.01tn
The federal government has released a total of N160 billion capital vote for the fourth quarter of 2013 to ensure effective implementation of capital projects captured in the 2013 budget. This brings the total releases for capital projects so far to N1.01 trillion.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Paul Nwabuikwu, the ministry said it also released the sum of N160 billion, in continuation of execution of capital projects across the country for the fourth quarter of the year.
Previous quarterly releases for 2013 included N400 billion for the first quarter; N200 billion for the second quarter and N250 billion for the third quarter.
This is made up of N387.97bn for statutory transfers; N591.76bn for debt service; and N2.38tn for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, of which N1.717tn was for personnel cost, while overhead cost was to gulp N208.9bn.
Similarly, a total of N1.62tn had been provisioned for capital expenditure, in addition to N273.5bn budgeted for the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme.
The gross federally collectible revenue was projected at N11.34tn, of which the total revenue available for the Federal Government's budget was N4.1tn.
According to the statement, the prompt release of fund will ensure further progress in the execution of capital projects captured in budget 2013 as all the funds released have been cash-backed.
Okonjo-Iweala said, 'The Federal Ministry of Finance has released the sum of N250bn for capital projects for the third quarter of the year.
'In line with the priorities set out by President Goodluck Jonathan, the funds will be deployed to expedite the execution of key infrastructure, security and social projects captured in budget 2013. The latest figure means that a total of N850bn has so far been released for capital projects this year. Also, all the funds released have been cash-backed.
'Implementation of various capital projects across the country is ongoing and currently, utilisation of the released funds for capital projects for this year stands at 71 per cent.'
The minister had in a presentation on the budget said the government remained focused on critical economic and social sectors driven largely by private sector activities.
To achieve this, she had said N497bn was allocated to key infrastructure, including power, works, transport, aviation, gas pipelines, and the Federal Capital Territory; human capital development (i.e. education and health), N705bn; and agriculture/water resources, N175bn.
She had said, 'We recognise that Nigeria's infrastructure deficit remains one of the binding constraints to growth in the economy.
'Therefore, our strategy is to prioritise infrastructure investments in the budget and also to leverage additional external financing for infrastructure investments in the country.
'For example, budget 2013 has some important infrastructure projects in the transportation sector, such as the second Niger Bridge.'