We need to sell national assets to fund 2016 budget – FG

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma

The Federal Government on Saturday said the proceeds from the sale of some of the country’s national assets would be used to fund the expenditure of government as contained in the 2016 budget.

It said while the government had mapped out key infrastructural projects that would support its economic diversification agenda, the shortfall in revenue had made it difficult for these projects to be executed.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma who stated this in a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Mr Akpandem James, explained that the government had lost almost half of its expected revenue this year.

The minister explained that the unfortunate scenario was what prompted the Economic Management Team to urgently work out a fiscal stimulus plan to generate large funds to be injected into the economy.

The funds, he noted,would be injected through proceeds of asset sales, advance payment for license rounds, infrastructure concessioning, use of recovered funds, among others, to reduce the funding gap.

He said the primary objective of government’s fiscal stimulus plan is not to sell off all major critical national assets,but to source immediate funds to reflate the economy to the path of recovery.