The Akwa Ibom State Government has proposed a total budgetary outlay of N469.374 billion for the 2014 financial year.

The amount is as against N599.180 billion of the total revised appropriation for the 2013 fiscal year.

Of the total proposed budget, N165.504 billion is allocated to Recurrent Expenditure while N308.870 billion is for capital projects and programmes, showing a Recurrent – Capital ratio of 1:1:8.

Governor Godswill Akpabio presenting the budget to the State House of Assembly for approval today. He told the lawmakers that the total projected Recurrent Revenue for 2014 is estimated at N416.924 billion as against the revised revenue of N430.293 billion for 2013.

The breakdown given by the governor put Internally Generated Revenue at N‹29.617 billion; Statutory Allocation‹‹‹‹‹, N42.000 billion; ‹Derivation Fund‹‹‹‹‹, N307.726 billion; Retained Revenue from Parastatals‹‹,‹ N3.581 billion; Value Added Tax (VAT)‹‹‹‹, N‹14.000 billion; and SURE-P‹‹‹‹‹‹‹ N20.000 billion.

“For the 2014 fiscal year, Recurrent Expenditure is proposed at N165.504 billion, made up of N42.534 billion for personnel cost, N31,673 billion for overhead cost and N91.297 billion for consolidated revenue fund charges including pensions, gratuities and public debts,” Akpabio said, adding:

“The total Capital Receipts and Expenditure for the year 2014 is estimated at N303.870 billion as against the corresponding revised figure of N421.285 billion for 2013, a total projected capital receipts shows that N251.420 billion will be transferred from the consolidated revenue fund.

“The balance of N52.450 billion is to be realized as follows: Opening Balance from 2013 account‹ – N17.350 billion; Internal/External Loans‹‹‹‹- N3.000 billion; Grants‹‹‹‹‹‹‹ – N2.000 billion; ‹Ecological Funds‹‹‹‹‹- N0.100 billion; Re-imbursement from Federal Government on Road‹ ‹‹‹– N30.000 billion.”

The governor said that General Administration is allocated N93.2535 or 30.7 per cent; Economic, N130.8560 or 43 per cent; Law and Justice, N6.0610 or 2 per cent; Regional, N4.5000 or 1.5 per cent; and Social, N69.1995 or 22.8 per cent.

According to him, the sectoral allocation of the total estimated Capital Expenditure outlay of N303.870 billion for the year 2014 is presented as follows using IPSAS model General Administration, N93.2535 billion or 30.7 per cent; Economic, N130.8560 billion or 43 per cent; Law and Justice, N6.0610 billion or two per cent; Regional, N4.5000 billion or 1.5 per cent; Social, N69.199 billion or 22.8 per cent

Governor Akpabio hinted that the 2014 Budget is predicated on oil benchmark of $74 per barrel at a production rate of 24 million barrels per day.

•Photo shows Governor Akpabio.