| Governor Ifeanyi Okowa |
Delta State Commissioner for Economic Planning, Dr Barry Gbe, has said the newly reconstituted State Executive Council had approved a N425 billion “indicative budget” for 2022.
Gbe disclosed this while briefing newsmen after the maiden EXCO meeting presided over by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
He said the council approved the proposal after due consideration of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Fiscal Strategy Paper, MTEF and FSP, in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Law 2020.
He said his ministry had proposed a budget of N388 billion for the period but that the figure was jerked up by the council to accommodate other matters not envisaged earlier
He said: “After deliberations, debates and a deeper look into what 2022 should look like, in its wisdom, the State Executive Council increased the N388 billion that was recommended to N425 billion.
“It is not full and final. So, we will be going to the House of Assembly with an indicative figure of N425 billion as a total budget size for 2022.
“The microeconomic indicators that informed the indicative 2022 budget were a deliberate adoption of the Federal Government MTEF and FSP where they planned crude oil to be sold at $57 per barrel in 2022, with daily production of oil at 1.88 million barrels and exchange rate of N410 to the dollar. These are the indicative figures that made up the microeconomic framework of the Federal Government and that are what we also used in our projections.
“However, the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, which for 2021 half-year was put at N35 billion is to be scaled up through what we are trying to put in the informal sector, so that we can become a little ambitious and then increase it from the N65 billion-plus of 2021 to doing N75 billion in 2022.
“We also try to scale down what we called net financing which is to say that we don’t need to borrow much to increase the revenue side of our 2022 budget. However, in our intention to finish strong, we felt that there will be a need to also maintain some figures around net financing.
“So, the revenue side of the budget for 2022 will be adequately funded through the statutory allocation, the IGR of the state, grants that we expect from donor agencies and multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF and some others that might likely come up.”.
State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, who also spoke during the briefing, disclosed that the council approved the construction of Amoro Street which is about 756 meters in Enerhen in Uvwie Local Government Area, while Osamor Street in Ika North-East and Ozu/Onyia/Ogbe streets in Ekuku-Agbor in Ika South and the Okpolo/Owien Road in Isoko South were also approved for construction.