Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has officially approved the 2024 revised supplementary budget of N404bn, representing a notable increase of 22 percent.
Addressing attendees during the budget signing ceremony at the Government House in Benin City, Governor Obaseki emphasized the importance of the revised budget, citing the prevailing inflationary conditions in the economy. He stressed the need for adjustments to align with the evolving economic realities.
“I have signed into law the revised supplementary budget for Edo State. We have to amend the 2024 Appropriation Act which was passed late last year because of developments that have occurred in the economy in the first five months of the year,” he said.
“We have to increase our budget by about 22 percent, to about N404 billion from the earlier projected figures. The reason we had to do this is because from the first quarter of this year, we saw a 100 percent budget performance for that period.
“Also, because of the inflationary trend in the economy, we have had to adjust our capital budget to reflect the new trend we are seeing. We also had to make a decision on the minimum wage which has financial implications. We didn’t anticipate that in the earlier appropriation law which we have had to amend.
“We expect that even with the revised and supplementary appropriation bill, we will meet the target which is N404 billion, which is now the proposed budget for the year. What is important to note is that we are still spending more on capital than recurrent expenditure.”