On account of Governor Ben Ayade's determination to prioritize investments in capital expenditure and reduce operating expenditure spending, BudgIT, a civil tech organisation that strives to make public data and budgets more comprehensible to the public, has rated Cross River State high in its 2021 State of States report.
Described as, "the most comprehensive annual report on the fiscal health of States in Nigeria", the report is an assessment tool which indicates fiscal strategies States need to deploy to raise needed resources to invest in their people. Ranking Cross River in 8th position, having come from the 14th position it occupied in 2020, is an indication that the State has done impressively well in prioritizing investments in capital projects, while reducing year-on-year operating expenses by as much as 30 percent, including reduction in overheads, by over 70 percent.
Budgit's report has further indications that with Cross River's fiscal fiscal health, there has been growth in capital expenditure by over 71 percent, with the State's capital expenditure per capital at N11,494, higher than the country's average of N7,125.
The State's Commissioner for Finance, Asuquo Ekpenyong said Governor Ayade's determination to deploy intellectual money to drive the development of the State, as well as, depending less on Federal allocation, resulted in the ranking of Cross River, as the 5th on the list of States that are able to rely more on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
The Commissioner who is also the Chairman, State Financial
Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS), intimated that even though the State was ranked 17th, in terms of residual income left over for investment in capital projects after deductions on inherited loans and operating expenses, being ranked as the 4th highest State on the capital investments index points to the deployment of sound fiscal policies and creative funding by government.
"Even more impressive is the fact that this administration has achieved all these inspite of huge debt repayment as a result of previous loans", Asuquo informed, adding that, even though the State occupies the bottom rung of States rankings on the ability to borrow, "the current administration has made frantic efforts to reduce both domestic and foreign debt, with over N120 billion expended so far on debt service on inherited loans".
Positing that there is room for improvement across all fiscal indices, the Finance
Commissioner said that substantial investments in infrastructure projects focused primarily on agro Industralization, adding, "Consistent efforts to reduce operating expenditure through the use of technology to significantly reduce incidences of ghost workers on the payroll.
He assured that tireless efforts are being made to, "sustainably increase the IGR and reduce dependence on the FAAC allocations", which is an indication that the fiscal health of Cross River State is on an upward trajectory.
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