COVID-19: FG Disburses Another N66.5 b To States
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who disclosed this in a statement by Mr. Hassan Dodo, the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, yesterday in Abuja, explained that the disbursement followed compliance with the Amended COVID-19 Responsive 2020 Budget by 35 eligible States in the country.
The programme is wholly-financed with a loan amount of $750 million from the International Development Association (IDA), a member of the World Bank Group.
She said that each State received the total sum of N1.9bn equivalent of $5million.
According to Ahmed, the Amended 2020 State Budget must also include standardised budget documentation to enhance clarity, transparency and accessibility.
“It must also significantly lower the gross statutory revenue projections – consistent with the revised medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) and federal government’s budget; reduced non-essential overhead and capital expenditures”.
“The budget must be tagged and found to have allocated at least 10 percent of the total expenditure of the amended budget for COVID-19 relief, restructuring and recovery programs; and identified credible sources to fully finance the budget deficit to avoid accumulation of arrears”.
Mrs. Ahmed stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic and fiscal shocks have put significant pressure on States’ fiscal resources and undermined the reality and credibility of the States’ original 2020 Annual Budgets.
She identified a transparent, accountable and sustainable state-level fiscal/budget framework as a pre-requisite for a robust COVID-19 response, enabling necessary health, social protection and livelihood interventions during the COVID-19 relief, restructuring and recovery phases.
The minister expressed optimism that the achievement of results by the 35 out states would further strengthen the national fiscal response to COVID-19 and align efforts at both the federal and state-levels.
She noted that the World Bank-assisted SFTAS Programme is principally meant to strengthen fiscal management at the state level, so as to ensure effective mobilisation and utilisation of financial resources to the benefit of the citizens in a transparent, accountable and sustainable manner, thereby reducing fiscal risks and encouraging a common set of fiscal behaviours.
Mrs. Ahmed observed that the SFTAS programme could not have come at a better time, given the dwindling government revenue occasioned by oil price volatility coupled with the current impact of COVID-19 which has further intensified the need for improved practices in fiscal transparency, accountability and sustainability as enunciated in the SFTAS ideals.
The federal government had earlier in April, 2020 disbursed the total sum of (N43,416,000,000.00) $120.6 million to the qualified 24 States, based on their performance.
