Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State on Tuesday presented a N103 billion-budget for 2014 to the state’s House of Assembly for consideration and approval.
The governor said that the proposed budget, tagged “Budget of Stability and Growth’’, would control fiscal expansion and reduce budget deficit, while facilitating efforts to complete and inaugurate all ongoing projects next year.
Fayemi said that the budget exceeded that of 2013 by N1.3 billion, adding that the increase was to enable the government to execute all its pending projects. “Our Capital Expenditure will be 52.48 per cent for 2014, as against 32.68 per cent in the outgoing year,’’ he said.
A sum of N50.1billion was earmarked for Recurrent Expenditure in 2014, while N53 billion would be spent on headings such as Economic Sector, Social Services Sector and Environmental Sector as well as Administrative Sector.
The governor also said that total the government’s revenue projection was put at N103 billion.
On how the government intended to finance the budget, Fayemi said that N32 billion would be received via Statutory Allocations, N7 billion would accrue from the Value Added Tax (VAT), while N4 billion would from the Excess Crude Account.
He said that N20 billion was expected to be generated as Internally Generated Revenue, (IGR), N11 would come from External Grants, while N6 billion would be sourced through loans.
He added that additional resources for the proposed budget included reimbursement of the funds spent on the repair of federal roads as well as proceeds from the Ecological Fund, among others.
The governor, however, said that the IGR would be given the utmost priority, as appropriate guidelines would be adopted to evaluate and prioritise capital projects which were capable of generating revenue.
Fayemi stressed that the overall target of the 2014 budget was to alleviate poverty among the citizens of the state, while promoting their wellbeing.
In his remark, the Speaker, Dr Adewale Omirin, commended the governor for being a good ambassador of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
Omirin urged the governor not to be distracted or disillusioned in his efforts to expedite the state’s development, pledging the lawmakers’ support for his development aspirations and ideas.
