By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s 2022 budget performance stands around 75 per cent as of November 30, after the federal government expended N12.87 trillion of the N17.126 trillion projected for the year.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, made this known during the presentation of the breakdown of the 2023 budget signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday.
At the presentations of the budget details in Abuja on Wednesday, Mrs Ahmed said out of the N12.87 trillion, N5.24 trillion was for debt service, and N3.94 trillion was for personnel costs.
“The actual spending as of November 30 was N12.87 trillion.
“Of this amount, N5.24 trillion was for debt service; N3.94 trillion for Personnel Costs, including pensions; statutory transfers, overhead and service-wide votes expenditures totalled N1.81 trillion; and N1.88 billion was released for capital expenditure,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Minister said the fiscal deficit for 2022 was estimated at N8.17 trillion, inclusive of the supplementary budget, adding that as of November 30, 2022, the deficit was N6.37 trillion.
“The deficit was totally financed by borrowings, mostly from domestic sources.”
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2023 Appropriation Bill of N21.83 trillion into law on Tuesday.
The National Assembly passed the 2023 Budget on December 28, 2022, after it was laid before a joint session of the parliament on October 7, 2022.
Known as the Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and Transition, the main aim of the 2023 Appropriation Act was to maintain fiscal viability and ensure a smooth transition to an incoming administration.
Meanwhile, the Finance Bill 2022 was also passed to reinforce the administration’s public financial management reforms.
The Act is expected to make key reforms on tax laws and others, including increasing the education tax to 3.0 per cent from 2.5 per cent.