- Expresses hope oil output will rise to 2.2mbpd by year ending
By Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has called on the African Development Bank (AfDB) to fast-track the disbursement of the $1 billion budget support facility it promised the country.
The pan-African bank recently promised to extend a billion dollar loan support facility for the 2016 budget. The loan is expected to cover the 35 per cent shortfall in the 2016 budget.
Udoma, who made the appeal in Abuja weekend at a meeting with an AfDB team, thanked the bank for its support.
“I want to thank you for the support. We value the relationship with ADB and we appreciate the budget support. We want AfDB also to fast-track the loan facility. What is important to note is that the AfDB is standing with us,” Udoma said, according to a statement issued by the Director (Information) in his ministry, Mr. Adedeji Ajibade.
Giving an overview of the government’s plan to reflate the economy and come out of the recession, the minister stated that the federal government was trying to contain the militancy in the Niger Delta region, which has impacted oil production in the country.
According to him, with the containment of militancy, the government was hopeful of restoring oil production to 2.2 million barrels a day by the end of the year.
He also stated that the government was committing funds to infrastructure development, processing of export zones, as well as providing loans through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at a single digit to support farming in Nigeria.
According to the minister, the economic recovery plan was designed to consolidate and harmonise all the sectoral plans in a single document and would set out in broad details an integrated roadmap for the growth and sustainability of the country’s economy.
He noted that it was also part of the commitment the federal government made to Nigerians, irrespective of whether there was a recession or not.
In his remarks at the meeting, the Director General of the Budget Office, Mr. Ben Akabueze, spoke on what the present administration was doing differently concerning budgetary releases.
He said the government had shifted from the old practice of releasing monies on a quarterly basis, explaining that releases are now based on specific requests that are tied to projects.
Akabueze revealed that so far, over N750 billion had been released for capital projects, adding that it was hoped that revenue would improve in the second half of the year as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service would perform better, having overcome some of the challenges they faced in the first half of the year.
AfDB’s acting Director for Governance and Reform, Mr. Coulibaly said his team was in the country to seek further clarification on the policy reforms of the government, as well as the level of budget implementation vis-à-vis capital budget releases.
He also stated that they had come on a fact-finding mission on whether or not the administration would introduce new policies in the 2017 budget as well as on the social protection policy.
