Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State on Tuesday presented the 2023 draft budget of N370 billion to the State House of Assembly.
The governor said the 2023 Appropriation Bill has a total size of N370.33 billion, which is a 21.82 percent increase over the 2022 revised appropriation of N303.99 billion.
N242.21 billion is the projected capital expenditure and N127.7 billion is for recurrent expenses.
The estimates conform with his administration’s 60:40 ratio of capital to recurrent expenditure.
“The capital to recurrent ratio of 65.5% to 34.48% reflects our consistent commitment to investment over consumption,” he said.
The governor further said that the 2023 estimates maintained the government's focus on human capital development, adding that the proposal “allocates 45.34% of the budget to education and health.’’
According to him, the allocations of 29% to education and 16.05% to health leave no doubt about the government’s commitment to human capital development.
He added that the budget estimates had provisions for pro-poor interventions in nutrition, health care, skills acquisition, and empowerment funds for women, youths, and vulnerable groups.
“These pro-poor interventions are costed at N11.32 billion, representing about 3% of the proposed budget size,’’ he announced.
The proposed budget estimates assume that crude oil prices will stabilise around $70 per barrel and that the official exchange rate will be around N435.57 to the dollar.
The 2023 budget proposal is the eighth and final one of Governor El-Rufai’s tenure which ends in May 2023.
