N1.5tn spent on capital projects in 2017 – Adeosun

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said more than N1.5tn was spent on capital infrastructure in 2017.
Adeosun, who stated this on Sunday on her Twitter handle, said the Federal Government’s debt management strategy was yielding the desired result.
“I’m pleased to note that we’re going to close the 2017 budget with capital spending in excess of N1.5tn, which is higher than what we achieved in the 2016 budget. We’re also looking forward to the passage of the 2018 budget by the National Assembly,” she wrote.
The minister noted that more than five million new taxpayers were added to the nation’s tax base in the last two years.
Adeosun tweeted, “The Federal Inland Revenue Service and other tax authorities (at the state level) are doing a great deal of work on expanding the tax base and enforcement of tax payment. We must diversify our revenue base!
“Our debt management strategy, focusing on bringing down borrowing costs, is working. This time last year, the Federal Government was borrowing at an average cost of about 18 per cent; today, it is 13 per cent. We will continue to work very hard on debt service cost.”
_Punch