10 December 2013, Abuja – Revenues from Customs have declined to N304.6 billion as a result of the Federal Government’s fiscal incentives, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said.
Speaking yesterday in Lagos at a breakfast meeting with the Organised Private Sector (OPS) on the performance of the economy and projection for 2014, she said the figure which is for the third quarter, represents a 14 per cent decline from the N356.01 billion recorded for same period in 2012.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iwaela said Federal Government’s revenues in 2014 are estimated at N3.58 trillion, indicating a 13 per cent decline from the 2013 budget estimates. She said the expenditure in 2014 is projected at N4.5 trillion, repreenting a 9.9 per cent decline from the 2013 figure .
She said addressing revenue shortfalls in 2014 would require eliminating inefficiencies in government expenditure through fighting corruption in the public service, reducing the cost of governance and rationalisation of agencies in line with recommendations of the Orosanye Report, among other processes.
She said systems such as the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which enhances efficient personnel cost planning have been put in place to curb wasteful spending.
The Minister said 260 Ministries, Departments and Agencies are on IPPIS as at June 2013, adding that work is on-going to bring in other 321 MDAs not yet on IPPIS.
She said government savings on payroll cost to date, is N139.6 billion and that about 46,821 ghost workers have been identified through the introduction of the Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS) in April 2012.
She said the GIFMIS is aimed at improving the acquisition, allocation, utilisation and conservation of public financial resources using automated and integrated, effective, efficient and economic information systems, adding that 58 per cent of the budget is now executed through GIFMIS and that the figure would rise to 79 per cent by end of 2013
On the economy, she said: “Growth continues to be driven by the non-oil sector. Inflation has gone down in 2013. Inflation was 7.8 per cent at the end of October, showing a continual downward trend for the 10th consecutive month, down from 12.3 per cent in December 2012.”
She said the Excess Crude Account (ECA) stood at $3.3 billion as at November and may even decline further, adding that Foreign Reserves now stand at $44.7 billion. She 1.6 million jobs were created in the past 12 months.
– The Nation
