We Haven’t Borrowed A Dime, Says Anambra Govt IN an apparent reaction to the issue of debt burden in States, the Anambra State Government has said it is focused on pursuing and realising the Anambra State Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS), which encourages development in all sectors, and has not borrowed a dime to achieve its objectives. With ANIDS, the Peter Obi administration has embarked on development of education, industrials, tourism, health and agricultural sectors, among others, investing on related projects. Of note is the fact that Anambra has maintained that it has not borrowed money, at home or abroad, or sourced funds from financial institutions for the purpose of improving the economic fortunes of the states. Efforts made to obtain the debt figure for Anambra proved abortive as the State Commissioner, Ngozi Okoye, said the Debt Management Office (DMO) need to obtain clearance before giving any report. However, investigation reveals that Anambra falls under a low debt range of $26,708,648.52. The State is said not to be among the list of governments that have successfully raised various sums of money from the market through bond issue. Also, the local governments have not been involved in raising municipal bonds for infrastructure projects in their various communities. The State Government, this year, presented a total budget size of N110.890 billion to the State House of Assembly for consideration. The governor said it represents an increase of 33.28 percent over that of 2012 which was N83.200 billion, and that the sum is made up of N70.895 billion for capital expenditure and N39.995 billion recurrent expenditure. He explained the estimated amount of N70.895 billion is expected from capital receipts, an increase of 51.07 percent over that of 2012 which was N46.929 billion. The projected revenue earning for 2013 is N66.500 billion, made up of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N12.550 billion or 18.80 per cent and the federation allocation account of N54 billion or 81.20 percent. The emphasis is on poverty reduction measures with the economic sector allocated the sum of N22.966 billion or 32.39 percent of the capital budget, social N13.562 billion or 19.13 percent, Environment N7.531 billion or 10.62 percent and general administration N22.836 billion or 37.85 percent. He explained that the budget is result-based and a continuation of government vision of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and the strategy of Integrated Developments, saying that it is aimed at steering the state towards achieving comprehensive development. The policy thrust of the budget include among others to sustain and intensify various interventions in the area of poverty reduction; promote the implementation of projects/ programmes which addresses the critical targets of MDGs and intensify the enthronement of good governance, as well as adopting relevant reforms in the public services and public financial management system.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 04:33:46 +0000
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