Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa on Wednesday presented a budget proposal of N367, 095, 083, 451 to the State House of Assembly for the 2019 fiscal year. The governor regarded the 2019 fiscal blueprint as “budget of sustainable growth”.
Capital expenditure in the projected budget will gulp the sum of N209, 999,054,198 which is 57.21 while the sum of N157, 096 029, 253 or 42.79 per cent of the budget would be spent on recurrent expenditure.
The budget proposal is less N58billion of the current budget of N308,888,558,898. The 2018 budget comprised N147, 273, 989, 898 recurrent expenditure, and capital expenditure of N161, 614, 569, 000.
Presenting the 2019 budget at the Delta State House of Assembly, Governor Okowa disclosed that the fiscal projections would enable his administration consolidate on the successes and achievements of his administration.
“Despite the fluctuating fortunes of the economy in the last three and half years, I humbly note that our State has continued to forge ahead; workers are paid regularly, thousands of previously unemployed youths are gainfully employed, and many of our people now enjoy better facilities in terms of roads, water, education and health.
“Agriculture has received a strong boost with many cluster farms springing up in different parts of the State and, even more importantly, our people remain committed to peace and harmonious living. We shall build on this stable growth to position Delta State as a dynamic economy for the future; indeed, a stronger Delta beckons”, Governor Okowa enthused.
Road infrastructure took the largest chunk of the capital expenditure budget with sum of N79.6 billion while Education Sector will gulp the sum of N26.8 billion in the 2019 fiscal estimates.