FG Spends N4.33trn on Capital Projects in Three Years

• FG Spends N4.33trn on Capital Projects in Three Years

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, has said the Federal Government has spent over N4.3 trillion on capital projects in the last three years.

The minister, who briefed the press on the activities of the ministry and its parastatals, explained that the Federal Government through the ministry of finance released N1.2 trillion in 2016 for capital spending.

While another N1.2 trillion was released in 2017 fiscal year, followed by N1.55 trillion that was released on May 8 for capital expenditure in 2018.

He said the push for capital projects in recent years is to stimulate economic growth through efficient infrastructure following the 2016 recession.

He said, “An important strategy we embarked on in order to exit recession was to seek to reflate the economy.

“This was why we increased the capital budget from 16.1 per cent in 2015 to 30.2 per cent in 2016, 31.7 per cent in 2017, 31.5 per cent in 2018 and 26 per cent in 2019. We are also able to increase our capital releases.”

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released Gross Domestic Product report on Monday. The GDP report showed the economy grew by 2.01 percent in the first quarter of 2019, better than the same quarter of 2018.