The Lagos State Government of Babajide Sanwo-Olu said it is poised on raising internally generated revenue of N991.03 billion this year.
According to the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Samuel Egube, the estimates were bouyed by the 2020 performance in spite the covid-19 pandemic and other challenges.
The Commissioner revealed that the government intent to tap on opportunities in real estate, transportation and commerce sectors in the state.
He said the government would continue to use data and intelligence to unravel revenue opportunities and leakages.
Egube said: “While we were recovering from the pandemic, the #EndSARS protests and the aftermath of its hijack took us back economically and socially, further compounding the situation.
“However, attributable to our resilient nature, as at the third week of December 2020, our total revenue performed at 93%, while our total Capital Expenditure and total Recurrent Expenditure performed at 80% and 86%, respectively.”
He explained that “A significant percentage of the projected IGR (internally-generated revenue) of N512billion is expected to be contributed by LIRS (Lagos Inland Revenue Service). This, he said, will be achieved by expanding the tax net through a simplified tax process, improving our transaction taxes and the appropriate use of technology.
Against this backdrop, he said the State Government made provision for a deficit of about N192.5billon, “to be financed by a combination of external, internal loans and bonds, which are well within the government’s fiscal sustainability benchmarks.”
Egube revealed that the borrowing would be sourced through the capital market (N100billion); External through bonds (N50billion); and internal sources (N40billion) all of which would be deployed into capital expenditure only.
Already, the Capital expenditure took the lion share of the 2021 State Budget of about N703billion while the balance of N460.6billion will go into recurrent expenditure or a distribution ratio of 60;40 percent, respectively.
