FG commences 2013 budget implementation, releases N400b for first quarter capital expenditure

The Federal Government on Thursday in Abuja released N400 billion first quarter allocation for capital expenditure in the 2013 budget. This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Paul Nwabuikwu, Spokesman for the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The statement said that N120 billion had been earmarked for retiring bonds and payment of PHCN workers.
It said that N75 billion was for retiring bonds which became due while N45 billion was for the payment of PHCN workers.
“This is in line with the new debt management strategy which focuses on reducing the stock and flow of debt in a proactive manner,’’ it said. The release came a week after the breakdown of N4.987 trillion 2013 budget by Okonjo-Iweala. At the event, Okonjo-Iweala said that in 2012, the ministry released N1.01 trillion for the implementation of various capital projects and `successfully’ cash-backed N739 billion. By the end of 2012, ministries, departments and agencies , had utilised N686 billion or 92.8 per cent of the total amount cash-backed,’’ Okonjo–Iweala added.