The federal government has reechoed its commitment to funding the revised 2020 budget to put the nation’s economy on a recovery part, with a focus on mitigating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, who gave this assurance, said despite the drop in oil and non-oil revenues that led to the revision of the 2020 budget, the government remains committed to fully fund the budget as well as the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP), to accelerate the fiscal responses to the deteriorating economic situation nationwide.
The minister said that the federal government is committed to meeting the present challenges by focusing on optimal budget execution anchored by enhanced fiscal management, robust monitoring and evaluation as well as strict consequence management frameworks.
The minister’s comment was contained in a statement issued by her spokesman, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, yesterday.
The statement said the ministry has released capital votes for all MDAs at a minimum of 50 per cent and is in the process of releasing targeted funds to cash-back priority capital projects.
He said under the enhanced fiscal management framework, optimal treasury operations, would be key to ensuring that time-sensitive expenditures are prioritised over less critical spend; cash management is enhanced to accelerate the conversion of liquidity into the achievement of optimal outputs and outcomes; and financial controls are strengthened to detect and eliminate instances of waste, funds misappropriation and corruption.
“A robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework is being implemented to enhance value for money and optimise the delivery of critical outputs and outcomes vital to address the COVID-19 pandemic, protect pro-poor spending, and accelerate economic recovery from the impending recession. Feedback from budget M&E on a live basis will inform continuous adjustments in budget implementation.
“The Presidential Revenue Monitoring and Reconciliation Committee (PRM&RC), chaired by the director-general of the Budget Office, has been mandated to anchor the revenue-side,” the statement said.
