MINISTER of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has debunked some newspaper reports quoting her as stating before the Senate Committee on Appropriation that the Federal Government was planning to cut the 2012 budget by N370 billion.

Speaking through her Special Assistant, Mr Paul Nwabuikwu, in a press statement made available to Saturday Tribune, he said the reports were inaccurate, and that the minister did not cite such amount as published.

“What she did say was that in its efforts to meet the challenge of financing the remaining portion of the fiscal deficit of over N300 billion, government is adopting a combination of strategies. These strategies include the reduction in government expenditure, particularly overheads and a more aggressive push on revenue generation,” the statement read in part.

According to Nwabuikwu, the minister also made it clear that there was an urgent need to take action as regards fiscal deficit in order to reduce the cost of governance and improve the overall health of the economy.

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment