The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the early presentation of the 2021 budget estimates to the National Assembly for passage.
The chamber said the move was a demonstration of the current administration’s commitment to sustaining the return to January – December budget cycle.
Dr Muda Yusuf, Director-General, LCCI said these in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
NAN reports that the president had presented a budget of N13.08 trillion to the National Assembly.
Yusuf also commended the National Assembly for its commitment to passage of the budget before the end of the year.
He said the budget assumptions were generally okay and reasonably conservative.
According to him, the emphasis on completion of ongoing projects is laudable.
He said that the projections would save the country from the recurring incidence of abandoned projects which currently litter the country.
Yusuf, however, said that the revenue projections seemed quite optimistic, with regard to revenue performance over the last few years.
“We have witnessed large negative variances in revenue targets over the last few years.
This poses a risk of bigger deficits than projected.
“The ballooning recurrent expenditure and debt service is a cause for concern.
“The combination of these two line items exceeds the total revenue expected.
“The implication is that the entire capital budget would be funded from borrowing.
“This, therefore is a cause for concern,” Yusuf said.
