Ugwuanyi Presents N166.62bn 2023 Budget To State Assembly

Gideon Arinze in Enugu

Enugu state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi yestarday presented a budget estimate of  One Hundred and Sixty Six Billion Naira (N166.62 billion) for the 2023 physical year to the state house of Assembly for consideration and approval.
Presenting the budget proposal tagged budget of “Consolidation and Transition”, Ugwuanyi disclosed that it was 10.7 per cent lower than the 2022 budget  which was N186.65bn and 9.9% higher than our 2021 budget.

The governor explained that the budget proposal which will implemented between January and May, will enable his admission conclude all ongoing projects across the state and transit the state into the capable hands of the incoming administration.

The governor explained that out of the total budget size, the sum of N71,477,449,812.00, representing 38% of the total budget is for Recurrent Expenditure while the sum of N115,157,685,770.00 is for Capital Expenditure, representing 62% of the budget size.

He further explained that the projections for the 2022 Budget of the state were founded on the economic and fiscal updates of “National Inflation Rate of 13%; National Real GDP Growth of 4.2%; Oil Production Benchmark of 1.88 million barrels per day; Oil Price Benchmark of $57 per barrel and Exchange Rate of N410.15 per US Dollar”.

He noted that the expected revenue for the budget would be got from different sources, including N30bn from Internal Generated Revenue (IGR), N4bn from Excess Crude while N6.6bn would be got from aids and grants.The governor further explained that the sum of N37bn would be borrowed internally and externally to fund the budget.

On 2021 budget performance, Gov. Ugwuanyi pointed out that the year started on a note of recovery as national and sub-national governments embarked on strategic economic engineering, through innovative economic policies, to reflate the Covid-beaten economy of the previous year.

He said that his administration embarked on deliberate measures to bring succour to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, adding that “Enugu State engaged fully in the preparatory activities for the Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Program for Results, an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria supported by World Bank to mitigate the economic disruption occasioned by the Covid-19 Pandemic by protecting the livelihoods and food security of the poor and vulnerable families while facilitating the recovery of local economic activities in all the participating States”.
He said that the enlisting of Enugu state among the oil producing state is the greatest achievement of his administration.

In his response, Speaker of the House, Edward Ubosi thanked the governor for what he described as a wonderful budget presentation, adding that  the governors allocation to agriculture, water resources, education,  health and works shows that he remains committed to the needs of the people.
Ubosi assured that the assembly would give accelerated hearing to the budget, stressing that the lawmakers would pass the budget before the end of the year.

He called on ministries, departments and agencies to come forward for their defence to enable the House pass the budget at record time.