FG Has Generated 73% Of Targeted Revenue So Far In 2021 – Finance Minister

The Federal Government has disclosed that it has generated N3.93 trillion so far this year, which is 73% of its targeted N7.9 trillion revenue for 2021. It was also stated that from the 2022 budget, critical sectors including education are expected to get 7.9% of the budget at N1.290 trillion while healthcare is to receive 5% of the total budget at N820.2 billion.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed at the Public Presentation and Breakdown of the Federal Government’s 2022 Appropriation Bill, on Friday in Abuja.

This comes after President Buhari presented a N16.39 trillion 2022 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly on Thursday in Abuja.

What the Minister said
The Minister said, ”Exchange rate of N410.15 per US dollar and projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 4.2 per cent and 13 per cent inflation rate, were also taken into consideration.”

She added that of the generated revenue for 2021, the Federal Government’s share of oil revenues was N754.2 billion, representing 56.3 per cent of the performance of the prorated sum, citing that non-oil taxes revenues stood at N1.15 trillion, representing 115.7 per cent, which was above what was targeted in the 2021 budget.

On the expenditure, she said, “N8.14 trillion had been spent out of the N9.71 trillion budget, adding that it was inclusive of expenditure estimates of Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs), but excluded project-tied loans.”

She added that N2.87 trillion had been expended on debt servicing and N2.57 trillion for personnel cost, including pensions, while N1.79 trillion had been expended on capital projects.

On the 2022 Appropriation Bill, she said that the N16.39 trillion proposed to be spent was 12.2 per cent higher than the initial 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), stating that from the amount, N10.132 trillion was projected to be generated as revenue and N6.26 trillion which was 3.39 per cent of GDP as deficit would be financed majorly by borrowing.

“To fund the deficit, N2.51 trillion would come from domestic sources, another N2.51 trillion from foreign borrowing, N1.16 trillion from multi- and bi-lateral loan drawdowns and N90.7 billion from privatization proceeds,” she said.

On revenue generation, Ahmed stated that N3.53 trillion would come from oil, N2.13 trillion from taxes, N1.816 trillion from independent revenue, N1.728 trillion from retained GOEs and N924.31 billion from other revenue sources.

“Recurrent expenditure, which is non-debt spending, was estimated to cost N6.83 trillion, while aggregate capital expenditure was pegged at N5.35 trillion and N3.61 trillion would go for debt servicing, while N292.7 billion would provide for retirement of maturing bonds to local contractors and suppliers,” the Minister said.

She revealed that the defence and security sector, at 15 per cent, would get N2.41 trillion, infrastructure at 8.9 per cent or N1.45 trillion and the education sector at 7.9 per cent of the budget or N1.290 trillion.

“For the health sector, 5 per cent of the total budget at N820.2 billion and social development and poverty reduction programmes at 5.3 per cent of the budget would get N863 billion.

“We are optimistic of attaining more inclusive GDP growth as we focus on achieving our objective of massive job creation and lifting millions of our citizens out of poverty.

“Early passage of the 2022 budget for implementation from January 1 will significantly contribute towards achieving government macro-fiscal and sectoral objectives,” she added.

What you should know

The Finance Minister said the Federal Government spent the sum of N2.89 trillion on debt servicing between January and August 2021.

This debt servicing figure is about 74% of the revenue when compared with the N3.93 trillion total revenue generated by the federal government within the period under review.