ABUJA (Min of Budget and National Planning) – The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, at the 2019 Budget breakdown session in Abuja recently, told Nigerians to be hopeful of a brighter future as the seeds of development planted in the last four years are germinating and will bear fruits.
He said that all indices points to the direction of positive growth and the dividends will soon manifest with greater impact as government continues to faithfully implement the provisions of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which underpins government’s economic recovery actions.
The Minister pointed to the fact that already the macro-economy has remained largely stable and growth has increased from 0.82% in 2017 to 1.93% in 2018 and 3.01% is expected in 2019, with the continuing implementation of the ERGP.
He acknowledged the patience of Nigerians and the contributions of critical stakeholders like the National Assembly, the Media and other partners to the development efforts of the government. Senator Udoma explained that an economy usually take some time to build up momentum after a period of recession.
He explained that the 2019 budget is designed to further reposition the economy on the path of higher, inclusive, diversified and sustainable growth and to continue to lift significant numbers of Nigerian citizens out of poverty.
According to him, the 2019 Budget seeks to continue the reflationary and consolidation policies of the 2017 and 2018 Budgets respectively, which helped put the economy back on the path of growth.
Acknowledging that Nigeria faces significant challenges with respect to revenue generation, he assured that government is taking every necessary step to tackle the challenges. He said, “Key reforms will be implemented with increased vigour to improve revenue collection and expenditure management; Mr. President is committed, and has directed that all measures necessary be taken to ensure that we grow rapidly while maintaining fiscal sustainability. To ensure that this happens, the President set up a Projects and Programmes Committee, which has concluded its work. The initiatives developed by this Committee will be rolled out as the President enters his second term.”
Government, he said, 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.
He spoke on the adjustments made by the National Assembly, stating that, executive revenue assumptions were generally approved and adopted by NASS, except for unexplained increases totalling N31.5 billion on some non-oil revenue lines; NASS increased the budget size from N8.83 trillion to N8.92 trillion, translating to an increase of N90.33 billion
This has resulted in an overall increase of N58.83 billion in deficit. Inexplicably, NASS reduced the proposed borrowing from N1.649 trillion to N1.605 trillion, thus creating an overall unfunded deficit of N102.83 billion. To fully fund the budget, the level of borrowing may therefore have to increase.
Akpandem James
Special Adviser (Media and Communication) to the Hon. Minister
