AS preparation for the 2013 budget gathers momentum, the Federal Government is yet to decide on whether to include new capital projects or not.

A source close to the Presidency informed Saturday Tribune that the initial thinking of the government was to exclude new capital projects in the 2013 budget and concentrate on the funding of the existing ones.

However, the source stated, this might not be possible in view of the need to introduce some needed projects.

On a statement credited to the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr Bright Okogu, that capital projects might not be included in the 2013 budget, the Presidency source disclosed that Okogu might have been misquoted.

According to the source, there was no way capital projects would be excluded in the budget, stressing that maybe the DG Budget Office was referring to new capital projects.

“If the Federal Government decided not to include capital projects in the 2013 budget, what is going to happen to on-going projects? Do you think the government will abandoned them?”  he said.

Stating that the government could not do away with capital projects, the source said the number of uncompleted capital projects in the country was alarming and that was why the government was considering stopping new capital projects for now.

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had at a forum disclosed that the 2013 budget would be ready and presented to the National Assembly in September  2012.

The minister, who disclosed that the preparation for the 2013 budget had begun in earnest, stated that efforts would be made to increase the ratio of capital votes to recurrent expenditure which is less than 50 per cent in the current budget.

The minister said the government would also increase the revenue target in the coming budget.

To achieve this, she said all revenue-collecting agencies like the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service would be put on their toes to double their targets.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala stated that the Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) would be improved from the current N300 billion to N400 billion in the 2013 budget.

She said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would also be made to improve on its remittance to the Consolidated Revenue Fund from N20 billion to N60 billion in 2013.

Okonjo-Iweala, who disclosed that Nigeria was recording an average of seven per cent growth in the economy, stated that efforts would be made to increase the GDP growth in the next budget.

The minister said job creation would be given a greater priority in next year’s budget.

She said the government would focus on such sectors of the economy as solid mineral, manufacturing, housing and construction to broaden envisaged growth.

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