FG rejects 2011 budget Says it cant be implemented as passed by N/Assembly

THE Federal Government has disclosed that it will not implement the 2011 Appropriation Bill passed onMarch 16, 2011 by the National Assembly, saying it cannot be implemented now.The budget, as passed by the National Assembly, was N745 billion higher than the N4.221 trillion proposal submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan on December 15, 2010.PresidentJonathan based his estimates on crude oil benchmark of $65 per barrel while the lawmakers, in passing the budget,raised the oil price benchmark to $75 per barrel, basing their action on the rising price of crude oil in the international market.The National Assembly jacked up its allocations for capital and recurrent expenditure by 52.2 per cent from the N111.24 billion President Jonathan proposed to N232.74 billion.For debt service in the 2011 budget, the National Assembly also effected a reduction from N542.3 billion, which was the original proposal to N445.09 billion.The lawmakers also increased allocations to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from the initial N45.29 billion to N52.18 billion.INEC, according to the budget passed by the National Assembly, also got N9 billion additional sum for logistics in the forthcomingelections.Reacting to the Appropriation Bill on Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, Mr Olusegun Aganga, observed that it was difficult to comment on the budget at this stage on account of the fact that the presidency was yet to receive details from the National Assembly.However, he said based on the information available, there were areas of concern such as the level of deficit, the level of borrowing, among others, for the Federal Government.The 2011 budget is supposed to signal the beginning of fiscal consolidation, but we now have another expansionary budget which is unimplementable. If we are to build our economy on a solid foundation and avoid the boom and burst of the past, it is critical that we embrace discipline in the way we manage public finances. We cannot continue like this, the minister said.On the way out of the logjam, he said, I will be advising that we engage with the National Assembly to resolve these areas of concern. We have always had a very good relationship with the relevant National Assembly committees. So, I am optimistic that we can resolve these areas of concern very quickly.
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