…….capital releases to hit N1bn by year end
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed has said the $1 billion approved by the National Assembly for the military has been released.
The Minister, who disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists present at the presentation of the 2019 budget breakdown on Thursday in Abuja, explained that the depletion of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) from $2.319 billion to $631 million was due to the federal government’s decision to use part of the fund to fight insurgency in the North East.
According to Mrs. Ahmed, the government took the decision after the National Assembly approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter requesting NASS approval for $1 billion to fund security agencies in the insurgency fight.
“If you will recall, the National Assembly had authorized $1 billion to the security for the fight against insurgency and that is what has depleted the account to $631 million.
Addressing journalists at the end of the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr. Mahmoud Isa Dutse, disclosed that the federal government withdrew $1.68 billion from the ECA in one month leaving a balance of $631. The said withdrawal is about 72.7 per cent of the total sum.
As at the last FAAC meeting held in Kaduna in November, what was declared to be left in the ECA was $2.319 billion.
The ECA is a buffer account held in trust by the government to cushion the effects of economic volatilities during hard times. However, the federal government said it swept the account to off-set the last tranche of the Paris Club obligations to states.
The Permanent Secretary said “the balance in the ECA is $631 million. The final payment for Paris club refund to states was made and the figure was deducted and that’s what accounts for the difference.
“A decision was taken to make this refund and part of that decision is that the refund should come from the ECA. Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the president approved the money.”
On Capital releases for the 2018 fiscal year, the Minister said capital release is expected to hit N1 trillion by the end of the year.
The Minister added that as at 14th December 2018, a total of N820.57 billion had so far been released for capital projects in 2018. The figure represents 43 per cent of released funds.
She further said that the sum of N177 billion in promissory notes have so far been released to oil marketers and the government “is in the process of releasing the second tranche to the oil marketers.”
According to the Minister, the government is in the process of coming up with a new revenue template that would enable it shore up its revenue base.
