The Lagos State Government achieved N90.5 billion budget surplus in the 2019 fiscal year, the state government disclosed Monday. The performance, showed the solid financial standing and sound economic position by the state during the fiscal year.
The announcement of the state’s financial status followed misleading report by BudgIT, a public finance analyst, on the fiscal health of Lagos State. In a statement, Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Rabiu Olowo said Lagos State continues to meet all its recurrent and loan service obligations and the information that was published in incorrect, inaccurate and a gross distortion of the actual facts.
He said the figures showed the state is economically and financially viable and the government continues to expand funding sources whilst also ensuring that prudence and sustainability are at the fore of all funding and expenditure decisions.
Also, the state’s total revenue for the year stood at N644.76 billion while the recurrent expenditure and loan repayment obligations were at N544.24 billion, extract from the Lagos State’s published 2019 Audited Financial Statements, showed.
“Lagos State is economically and financially solid. This is contrary to the publication by BudgIT, a public finance analyst, titled ‘Ability of States to Meet Monthly Recurrent Expenditure and Loan Repayment Obligations, 2019’, which the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration described as “misinformation”. BudgIT has apologized for its error,” Olowo said.
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He said the accurate data for the state showed that total revenue stood at N644,762,788,340.04, recurrent expenditure and loan repayment obligation stood at N554,241,725,038.00 creating a budget surplus of N90,521,063,302.04.
Olowo said the Lagos State Government continues to efficiently explore options in both the financial and capital markets, to extract optimal funding solutions, which will enhance the administration’s ability to deliver on the construction, renewal and improvement of the deficit in social and physical infrastructure for the benefit of Lagosians; who represent 10% of Nigeria’s population.
He explained that in the year under review (2019), Lagos State restructured all existing internal loan facilities to 14 per cent per annum, from between 18 per cent and 20 per cent per annum. These rates have even more recently been re-negotiated to approximately 12 per cent per annum.
“Lagos State is the only state that is not reliant on the allocation from the Federal Account Allocation Committee, with Internally Generated Revenues representing circa 72 per cent of the State’s aggregate revenues to enable it address challenges faced by mega cities world over. As at August 2020, Lagos State’s Internal Revenue Service is doing 103 per cent above budget, and well above 2019 figures, despite the COVID-19 pandemic which demonstrate the fiscal resilience of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration for a Greater Lagos,” he said..
