FG proposes N6tr budget for 2016
He disclosed that the approved MTEF would be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration and passage while the government would continue to work on the actual 2016 budget proposal to be submitted to the lawmakers at a later date.
Asked how the government intended to fund the budget considering the downward trend of the nation’s income, Udoma disclosed that the administration intended to expand its earnings from the non oil revenues and prune recurrent expenditures.
He said “We will get the funding from two sources. We are looking at trying to increase our non-oil revenue. We are looking at trying to get more money from the various government agencies, policing their collection and trying to get more money from them.
We will also look at keeping down our recurrent budget. That means we are looking at savings that we can make from overheads. We will look at the efficiencies from our revenue collecting agencies like the FIRS, in terms of company income tax; in terms of VAT, and then the difference, we will have to borrow.
But the level of borrowing that we anticipate and we are projecting will be well within the maximum that we allow, which is 3 percent of the GDP, because we want a prudent budget, we want a credible budget, so we are working on that now.”
Asked whether the government intended to cut workers’ salaries, Udoma assured that such would never happen even as he added that wages would be paid as at when due.
He however hinted that the government was expecting certain savings from the IPPIS that it is currently using in disbursement of staff salaries.
While maintaining that the present exchange rate given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was maintained in the MTEF, the minister said the council has yet to decide on whether or not to retain the fuel subsidy.
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