Metro
Cash crunch: Anambra raises taxes, Lagos borrows
In view of dwindling funds from the federation account, necessitated by the drop in crude oil prices, state governments have resorted to exploring new means of raising funds to meet their financial needs.
And in efforts to shore up its financial base, the Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, on Wednesday asked traders in the state to be ready to pay taxes and levies for the development of the state, while the Lagos state government, secured a $200 million World Bank credit facility.
Obiano, represented by his deputy, Dr. Nkem Okeke, while inaugurating the Traders’ House built by the Amalgamated Market Traders Association of Anambra State in Onitsha, the Anambra State capital noted that taxes were needed by the state government to meet various social and infrastructural obligations it owes the citizenry.
He said, “it is clear to everyone in the country that allocation from the Federation Account is dwindling and we need to shore up our Internal Revenue Generation through streamlining our taxes and levies generation,’’ he said.
In Lagos, a statement by Senior Communications Specialist, World Bank, Nigeria, Obadiah Tohomdet, said the fund from the International Development Association, IDA, which supports the Third Lagos State Development Policy Operation, is the last of a series of two development policy operations to improve public finances and the investment climate in a fiscally sustainable manner.
Read Also: PDP blasts Osinbajo, says APC states greatest debtors
Lagos State government was said to have, in the past decade, achieved significant economic growth, improved its infrastructure and services, significantly reduced crime, and brought millions of people out of poverty.
World Bank Task Team Leader for the Project, Jariya Hoffman, said: “The operation is focused on furthering improvements in the transparency of the budget system, effectiveness of public expenditures, and the business climate will help sustain the pace of economic growth and thus the state’s positive momentum towards income equality and the delivery of public services”.
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