FG releases N1.58trn for capital projects in 2017

The Federal Government has said that a total ofN1.58 trillion capital cost was released to Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the 2017 federal budget.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, made this known in Abuja on Tuesday.

The N1.58 trillion total capital releases for 2017 is remarkably higher than the N1.22 trillion total capital releases for 2016.

In the 2017 capital releases, Power, Works and Housing received the highest allocation ofN523 billion which was 33.10 per cent of the total capital releases.

The sector also received the highest releases in the 2016 capital budget, which was a total of N307 billion, 25.21 per cent of the 2016 capital budget.

Defence and Security received the second highest capital releases of N197 trillion (12.50 per cent ) in 2017, as against N77.5 billion (6.36 per cent) total releases the sector received in 2016.

Agriculture and Water Resources received a total of N149 trillion (9.46per cent) in 2017. The sector had received N143 billion (11.74per cent) of the capital releases in 2016. Transportation received a total of N126 billion (7.99per cent)of the 2017 capital releases as against the  N171.9 billion  (14.10per cent) in 2016.

Health and Education together received a total of N98.19 billion (6.21per cent) for 2017 as against N56.27 (4.61per cent) the sectors received in 2016.

Other sectors combined received a total of N485.7billion, which was 30.74per cent of the 2017 capital releases. In 2016, a total ofN463 billion (37.99 per cent) was disbursed to these sectors.

The Minister of Finance, said despite the economic challenges in 2017, the Federal Government was able to fully cash-back the capital releases.

She further stressed that the sustained high allocations to key sectors was a reflection of the Federal Government’s commitment to infrastructure development in the country.

The Minister said the Federal Government was working assiduously to attract private capital to complement government spending in these key areas.