Nigeria spent N1.8trn on capital projects In 2020 – Finance Minister

 

BY VICTORIA ONU, ABUJA

THE Federal Government spent a total of N1.8trn on the execution of capital projects in the 2020 fiscal period.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, gave the figure on Monday during a public presentation of the 2021 approved budget.

Ahmed, during the virtual presentation, said the N1.8trn spent on capital projects for the 2020 fiscal period represented about 89 per cent of the provision made for capital projects.

The minister explained that out of the N1.8trn spent on capital projects, the sum of N118.37bn was released for COVID-19 related capital expenditure.

She added that while the Federal Government had projected the sum of N9.97trn expenditure for 2020, it actually spent about N10.08trn, representing 101 per cent performance.

She put the amount spent on debt servicing at N3.27trn, while the sum of N3.19trn was released for payment of salaries and pensions.

She also said the Federal Government generated the sum of N3.94trn in the 2020 fiscal year.

She said the N3.94trn generated during the period represented about 73 per cent of the target for the 2020 fiscal period.

This means that out of the projected revenue target of N5.39trn for 2020, the government could only achieve the sum of N3.94trn.

The minister said while oil revenue outperformed its target, the non-oil revenue performance was not too impressive.

Giving a breakdown of the revenue performance, the Finance Minister said that the Federal Government earned N1.52trn from oil revenue, representing an over performance of 157 per cent, while non oil tax revenue was N1.28trn, about 79 per cent of target.

She said Companies Income Tax and Value Added Tax collections were N673.22bn and N192.66bn, representing 82 per cent and 68 per cent, respectively, of the pro-rata revised targets for the period.

Ahmed put the Customs revenue at N410.21bn, about 79 per cent of revenue performance, adding that other revenues also contributed N993.73bn to revenue generation.

The minister blamed the revenue underperformance on the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that Customs revenue was affected by trade slow down caused by COVID-19.