Still on course We’ve achieved 67percent implementation, says Okonjo-Iweala

Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
ABUJA-MINISTER  of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala Tuesday,  said the Federal Government has achieved 67 percent 2013 budget implementation despite the fact  that the  economy is experiencing  challenges  over depleting  incomes .

The Finance Minister however  nurses fears  that the government may not be able to pay salaries of workers and execute some capital projects from September if the 2013 budget amendment proposal sent to the National Assembly is not passed by the parliamentarians  as quickly as possible.

It would be recalled that the  amended 2013 Budget bill was sent to the two Chambers of the National Assembly in March but is yet to be passed by any of the two chambers.

Iweala who disclosed this  when she appeared before the House Committee on Appropriation said  the budget has so far being implemented to the tune of 67 percent.

She said  a total of N600 billion has been released to Ministries, Agencies and Departments for capital projects.

According to her, of  this amount,  N585.7billion has been cash-backed.

She however  denied recent media reports credited to her that the economy will collapse in September if the 2013 amended budget is not passed by the National Assembly

She  said the nation’s economy is facing some serious challenges and the  nation is losing nearly  400,000 barrel per day(BPD) to theft, a figure that is valued at N160billion monthly.

-vanguard