ADEOSUN: FG released N1.6tn for capital expenditure in 2017 budget

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has announced that the Federal Government released a total of N1.6 trillion (N1,580,270,755,084.44) capital cost to Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the 2017 federal budget.

Adeosun, who made the disclosure in Abuja on Tuesday, said the N1.6 trillion total capital releases for 2017 is higher than the N1.2 trillion (N1,219,471,747,443.00) total capital releases for 2016.

In May, the minister had projected that the Federal Government will be closing the 2017 fiscal year with spending on capital projects in excess of N1.5 trillion.

A breakdown of the 2017 capital releases shows that the Ministry of Power, Work and Housing, Defense and Security, Agriculture and Water Resources, and Transport were the sectors with the highest capital releases of N523.01 billion, N197.60 billion, N144.93 billion and N126.25 billion worth of allocation as against N307.41 billion, N77.53 billion, N143.12 billion and N171.90 billion in 2016, respectively.

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Health and Education together received a total of N98.19 billion for 2017 as against N56.27 billion the sectors received in 2016, while other sectors combined received a total of N485.73 billion as against N463.23 disbursed to the sectors in 2016.

The Finance Minister noted that despite the economic challenges in 2017, the Federal Government was able to fully cashback the capital releases.

Adeosun added that the sustained high allocations to key sectors of the economy were a reflection of the Federal Government’s commitment to infrastructural development in the country, stressing the Federal Government was working assiduously to attract private capital to complement government spending in these sectors.

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