JONATHAN 2014 BUDGET: OKONJO IWEALA LAMENTS HIGH RECURRENT EXPENDITURE Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday, presented details of the 2014 federal government budget, lamenting the administration’ dilemma over the bloated recurrent expenditure which has risen to 74 per cent of the total proposed budget of N4.642 trillion. According to her, a total of N3.542 trillion has been earmarked for recurrent, leaving only N1.1 trillion for capital budget. The recurrent budget consists of N2. 239 trillion, representing about 37 per cent of the total budget for personnel cost, while N1.303 trillion has been earmarked for overheads. By implication, almost 40 per cent of the budget goes directly into the pockets of federal government workers who are only about one million in number. In Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s words, “the high share of recurrent expenditure in the budget is of great concern as it reduces the size of funds available for investments in capital projects. “We worked hard to reduce this ratio from 74.4 % in 2011, to 71.5 % in 2012, and further to 67.5 % in 2013 but it has risen back to 74 % in 2014.” The minister said the nation “will need to make some tough choices in the future about the structure of our budget”, adding, “we need to strike a balance between growing a wage bill for the public sector and investing more of our resources in infrastructure projects”.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 12:41:24 +0000
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