Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra state, has presented a budget proposal of N606,991,849,118bn for the 2025 fiscal year.
Soludo made the presentation at the hallowed chamber of the State House of Assembly in Awka, on Tuesday, where he also revealed that the budget, tagged “Changing Gears 2.0” also represents a 48 percent increase compared to the state’s 2024 budget of N410bn.
According to him, in the 2025 appropriation bill, recurrent expenditures account for about N140bn (representing about 23 percent of the total budget) with about 45 percent year-on-year growth.
The capital expenditures account for about N468bn (representing 77 percent of the total budget), with about 49 percent year-on-year growth. This, he said, was also the same ratio in the 2024 budget.
Soludo explained that the budget deficit projection for the 2025 fiscal year is about N148.3bn (representing about 24 percent of the total budget), which (like in the 2024 budget) is expected to be funded through revenue growth or borrowing from financial institutions.
The governor, however, noted that, both in 2023 and in 2024, his administration did not borrow to fund budget despite the fact that the two budgets contained significant deficit projection.
Similarly, the governor said that his administration may still not borrow to fund the projected deficit in the 2025 budget, depending on the execution.
Comparably, Soludo also revealed that the education sector has the highest percentage increase in the 2025 budget, with over 101.4 percent when compared with the allocations of the 2024 budget.
His words: “Relative to 2024, several key sectors are seeing significant increases in the proposed budget.
“In the Administrative sector, we have an increase of about 45.5 percent. The Economic sector which has humongous infrastructure and economic transformation has about 40.1 percent and the Judiciary by about 51.3; the Social Sector, by 82.7 percent.
The Education sector by 101.4 percent; the Health sector by 57.1 percent; and Infrastructure and Investment, by 39 percent. It is not surprising that education is the one that has more than a 100 percen increase.”
The governor also reassured to prioritize access to quality education, infrastructure, youth empowerment, ICT, agriculture, among others in 2025.
With references to some past years’ budgets in the state and the inflation rate in those years, Soludo, who noted that this year’s budget amounts to a mere sum of $357m, acknowledged that the inflation rates and expenditures have continued to increase, while revenues have not increased proportionately in nominal or real term, thereby constituting a major challenge in budgetary execution.
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