Financial experts have prescribed models of implementation of the 2019 budget to the Federal Government to drive economic growth, once assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The experts offered the tips in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos, while reacting to 2018 budget passed by the National Assembly.
The Senate and the House of Representatives unanimously raised the Appropriation Bill to N8.916 trillion on April 30.
The amount approved by the National Assembly is N90 billion higher than the N8.826 trillion President Buhari laid before the lawmakers in December 2018.
Prof. Sheriffdeen Tella, Professor of Economics, Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun said the budget implementation should start in earnest by ensuring prompt release of funds.
“The Nigerian economy is public sector driven and the budget implementation must start in earnest through release of funds and use of funds for what the funds are meant for.
“So we expect implementation to start very soon after the President’s ascent, provided there are no cases of padding or other matters that could make the President to return the budget for further consideration,” Tella said.
He suggested that the executive should establish a budget implementation monitoring team, apart from that of the legislature, and allow team to function and report directly to the Vice President who heads the nation’s economic team.
Tella said since the budget would be implemented by the same government there would be continuity with improvement in procedure and processes of release of funds.
According to him, “the budget will likely have positive impact on the economy by the end of the year as we may have clear six months for implementation.”
Tella also counseled the government to be discrete in its handling of taxation to avoid discouraging production and consumption.
He said the proposed increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) should be on goods and services considered as luxury items not common consumer goods that could result in higher prices and fall in demand.
“We must realise that producers in Nigeria already face high cost of production due to infrastructural deficiency, particularly power, which makes their products to be more expensive than imported ones.
Tella said such taxes when imposed would be passed to consumers, which would likely result in boycott of such goods for foreign ones that might be inferior.
“The economic team must look for ways of using tax as incentive to produce and consume, rather than revenue generation only,” he added.
Malam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Limited, said the increase in the budget was in order in view of the rise in the price of crude oil.
He faulted the late approval of the budget by the legislature by the end of April, at a time when the cabinet is yet to be dissolved to make way for a new one.
“It is very clear that the NASS has lost the essence of budget in a challenging economy such as ours, which needs proactive measures to restore our economy to the path of growth,” Kurfi said.
He said quick implementation of the new minimum salary and capital expenditures would help the capital markets and economy in general.
“We need to have a new cabinet without delay as well as the immediate renewal or appointment of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria for the Capital market to fully recover and move on,” Kurfi noted.
