Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has presented the State House of Assembly (H’Assembly) with a ₦561.8 billion appropriation bill for the fiscal year 2023.
The budget, dubbed the “Budget of Seamless and Stable Transition,” increased by 17% over that of 2022.
Okowa stated that the budget includes capital expenditure of ₦326.6 billion, which accounts for 58% of total expenditure and represents a ₦82 billion or 17% increase over the 2022 budget.
It also has a recurrent expenditure of ₦235.2 billion, which accounts for 42% of total expenditure and represents a 25% increase over the 2022 budget.
The budget, according to Okowa, would be primarily funded through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
“The signs are obvious with a performance of 89 per cent of the budget in the first nine months of the current year. We shall continue to sustain and improve on the measures taken thus far, which culminated in the increased revenue profile,” Okowa said.
“While new sources of revenue are being explored, we shall also intensify enforcement of appropriate tax legislation.
“It is, therefore, our projection to generate the sum of ₦95 billion as IGR in 2023, representing 17 per cent of the total projected revenues for the year.”
The governor stated that when considering the macroeconomic framework for the 2023 to 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), he took into account national inflation, real GDP growth derived from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and the Federal Government’s assumptions for the preparation of the 2023 budget before arriving at a benchmark oil price of 70 US dollars per barrel; daily oil production benchmark of ₦1.69 million.
According to the governor, the 2023 budget aims to complete all ongoing projects and repay all outstanding loans.
