The Federal Government has reassured Nigerians that it will not increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) to finance the 2016 budget.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo spoke at the State House in Abuja yesterday while receiving members of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by a former Minister of Industry, Mrs. Nike Akande.
Osinbajo said the government would internally raise revenue to fund the budget through an expansion of VAT coverage, “but not an increase of the VAT rate.”
He said “at 20 percent of the VAT coverage now the federal government intends to do much better giving a boost to the country’s tax revenue.”
Osinbajo said the government’s plan to raise a $25billion infrastructural fund from the global community and establish long term bankable projects was receiving favourable interests.
He said the Infrastructure Fund would enable commercial partners to collaborate with the government in building infrastructure.
Osinbajo also disclosed that the China-Exim Bank had agreed to finance the railway projects linking Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar, saying the government expected this to generate economic activities and create jobs.