CRSG Proposes N350B for 2016 Budget
By; VITALIS UGOH, Calabar
Cross River State Government has proposed the sum of N350 billion for 2016 fiscal year tagged “Budget of Deep Vision”
Out of this, N294.58 billion is proposed for capital expenditure representing 84 per cent while 55.41 billion Naira is for recurrent expenditure.
The state governor, Senator Ben Ayade disclosed this while presenting the budget estimate to the Cross River State House of Assembly Monday in Calabar.
According to him, the increase from N149.44billion in 2015 to N350billion in 2016 was due to funds from Foreign Direct Investment.
A breakdown of the budget shows that under recurrent revenue, federal sources is put at N43.200 billion, capital receipt at N284.446 billion while personnel cost is put at N27.319 billion.
Ayade who said that the 2016 budget “is committed to intensifying our effort to meeting our recurrent obligations by exploring the available vast potentials for internal revenue generation, ensuring that we capitalise on the comparative advantage we have in agriculture and tourism to create job opportunities for our teaming youths amongst others”.
He said that under agriculture in 2016, the state shall continue its partnership with the Federal Government on agriculture through the commercial agricultural credit scheme. “The state government shall continue to collaborate with private sector and donor agencies in this sector not only to increase agricultural productivity but as well as reduce poverty and ensure food security in 2016” he assured.
Earlier, the State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon John Gaul-Lebo, commended the governor for inviting President Muhammadu Buhari to perform the ground breaking of the 260km super highway in the state.
Gaul-Lebo said that the road when completed would attract more investors to the state, thus, improving the revenue profile of the state. He assured the governor that the legislature would continue to support his administration for the economic and political growth of the state.
END.
