We’ll no longer allow budget extensions – Edun

By Nana Musa

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, on Tuesday promised that there will be no more budget extensions in the Nigerian fiscal space going forward.

The Minister who spoke during plenary session on “The Reform Imperative: Building a Prosperous and Inclusive Nigeria By 2030” at ongoing 31st Nigerian Economic Summit (NES #31) in Abuja, on Tuesday confessed that extensions of budget into the next year which has created so much confusion in the system.

“No more extensions of budget into the next year which has created so much confusion in the system.

“We have talked to the National Assembly and we have agreed to restore normalcy in that space,” he said.

The minister also said that the government would make a greater use of sukuk, green bonds and diaspora bonds instead of eurobonds.

He said that there was greater transparency saying it took until Aug. 1 for the Federal Government to have visibility of its accounts with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He said that the Federal Government had implemented a federal billing system, that enables it to track exact payments for goods and services.

“We are determined to bring all Federal Government funds into visibility.

“There is a lot of Federal Government money lying outside of CBN,” he said.

Edun said that the fight against inflation started with the fiscal authorities and that the Federal Government would prioritise its spending, focusing on productivity-enhancing sectors.

He said that two reforms, foreign exchange unification and fuel subsidy removal, had freed five per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) into the Federation Account distribution to the three tiers of government.

The minister said that the federation funds allocation to states have increased by about 111 per cent.

(NAN)