The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, has said that the capital implementation of 2021 budget has risen to N3.40 trillion as at November 2021.

According to the minister, the increment represents over 74% performance compared to total capital budget of N4.569 trillion in 2021 budget.

Ahmed made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday while speaking at the symbolic cheque presentation of 2021 sovereign Sukuk issue proceeds of N250 billion to the implementing ministries, Ministry of Works and Housing, Federal Capital Territory and Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

The symbolic cheque presentation was witnessed by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Minister of FCT, Mallam Mohammed Bello and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Ahmed stated that of N3.40 trillion released, N2.98 trillion represents 83% of the provision for MDAs’ capital, N369.9 billion for multilateral/bilateral project-tied loans, while N49.52 billion represents GOEs capital expenditure.

The minister added that N250 billion will be released as part of the capital expenditure in the 2021 budget which has been slated for implementation by the National Assembly in March 2022.

The minister further noted that with the latest N250 billion Sukuk bond proceeds, the fourth in series, Sukuk proceeds deployed to funding road projects from 2017 to date, stood at N362.557 billion.

Zainab revealed that the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing received N210.5 billion, Federal Capital Territory Administration got N29 billion, while the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs received N10.4 billion.

“The government will continue to prioritize spending on critical infrastructure in order to sustain the momentum on GDP growth. As you may be aware, the GDP is projected to grow by 4.20% in 2022. This can only be possible through steady increase in spending on critical infrastructure, such as roads,” the minister of finance said.

TheStar