Fed Govt records late passage of budget in six years, says FRC

The consistent delay in the passage of budget by the National Assembly is slowing down growth, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) has said.

The agency’s report indicates a pattern of five months between the budget presentation by the President and its passage by the lawmakers in the last six years.

It said the lateness “messes up budget tracking and contributes to poor implementation of capital budgets.”
It also claimed that the delay in managing the Appropriation Bill had been stifling national development

The commission stated this in its 2015 Annual Report and Audited Accounts, obtained by The Nation last night.
The FRC recommended the adoption of a “strict budget timetable to be incorporated in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).”
The commission suggested a January to December fiscal year to enable successive budgets to have meaningful impact on the nation’s development.

The report said in part: “It will be observed that there have been perennial delays in the presentation of the budget to the NASS. There has been an average of five (5) months between the time of presentation to the National Assembly and assent by the President.

“Though the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 does not specify a time-limit for the submission and passage of the annual budget into law, it stands to reason that the budget instrument should be ready for execution from the beginning of the fiscal year.

“The case for years where a new fiscal year’s budget is being awaited months into the fiscal year owing to the late passage of the budget messes up budget tracking and contributes to poor implementation of capital budgets thereby stifling national development.”

The report added: “There is therefore a need for a strict budget timetable to be incorporated in the FRA. This way, relevant agencies will be committed to specific tasks, timelines and deadlines which if enforced will go a long way towards solving the perennial problem of late preparation and passage of annual budget well as the uncertainty in delimiting the budget cycle.
Nation, March 01, 2017

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