TARABA BUDGETS N58B FOR 2011
GOVERNOR Danbaba Suntai of Taraba has been presented a N58 billion Appropriation Bill to the state House of Assembly for the year 2011.
Making the presentation yesterday at the floor of the House, the governor said the budget was based on 'an average oil benchmark price of $60 per barrel'.
Tagged: 'Sustainable Progress', the governor said the Appropriation Bill, if approved, would go a long way to 'set expenditure at a sustainable level so as to reduce drastically budget deficit'.
He added: 'We would as well ensure that at least 40 per cent of the total budget is channelled to capital formation. Also, 60 per cent of the total capital investment funds will be directed to government priority areas'.
Suntai said the 'the overall budget size for 2011 is N58,759,148,453.00', which according to him, 'represents an increase of 3.73 per cent over the 2010 budget'.
The stable exchange rate enjoyed throughout the year and the daily oil production quota of 2.2 million barrels per day, according to the governor, necessitated the increase.
The budget, according to Suntai, would also be used to achieve more of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the state.
Even though the price of oil, which is the mainstay of the country's economy, seems to be on the increase at the international market, global and macro-economic, Suntai stressed 'the need for us to be cautious in our fiscal policies'.
'It is in the light of this that our resource projections are based on time series analysis of our actual receipts from the various sources of our recurrent revenue, with receipts in 2010 bearing greater weight on the projections', he explained.
Elated by the timely presentation of the budget, the 24-member House, through its Speaker, Istifanus Haruna Gbana, said it would go a long way to provide the dividend of democracy to the people.
The House members said the funds appropriated for the Executive arm of government in this year's budget was wisely used to execute projects they were earmarked for.
Gbana reiterated the House's resolve to further build on it good relationship with Executive and assured that the lawmakers would pass the budget very soon.