President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday listed macro-economic stability, fiscal discipline and keeping the 2004 fiscal deficit at 1.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product as at end of September, as high points of the implementation of this year's budget.
He said this while presenting the 2005 budget before a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja.
Government, he said, was able to achieve these despite the late start in the implementation of the 2004 budget, saying that without macro-economic stability, it would have been difficult for households to plan and impossible for businesses to thrive.
Other successes, according to him, include surplus oil revenue, stable exchange rate in the past six months, downward inflationary movement, whose average for the year had been 19.1 per cent.
But he said the country might record a low double digit of between 10 and 11 per cent by the end of the year, with the increasing oil price at the international market.
"Our foreign exchange reserves, which were depleting last year, have built up beyond the target of six months of import or about $8.4 billion, which we set for ourselves.
"The reserves now stand at $12.4 billion or nine months of imports. With good growth in the agriculture and services sector, including telecommunications, we are on target to meet our GDP growth rate for the year of not less than five per cent," he explained.
On capital budget, he said this had recorded 81 per cent in implementation, with the release of N284billion at the end of third quarter, while the balance of N66 billion would be released at the end of October by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
He, however, added that only N142 billion out of the amount released had been utilised, which translated to about 50 per cent.
A total of N350 billion was set aside as capital expenditure in 2004 budget.
According to Obasanjo, the impact of the capital budget implementation on the economy had been tremendous, especially in the area of good roads.
He said the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, through the Ministry of Works, had launched the operation 500 road programme with a promise to repair and rehabilitate 26,400 kilometres nationwide.
About 14,000 kilometres of such roads, he said, would be done through direct labour to help create jobs for the unemployed.
He said that as at the end of July, 23,760 kilometres had been rehabilitated, half of it done through direct labour.
