Another relieve for the states to offset their indebtedness appeared as the Minister of Finance announced final tranche of the Paris Club Refund of N649 billion.
But debtor-states will have to settle their debts soon, Finance Minister Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said yesterday, adding that the Federal Government plans to begin the final phase of the debt refund.
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The minister told reporters at a news conference in Abuja yesterday that “the total sum of N649.434 billion was verified by the ministry as the outstanding balance to be refunded to the state governments.”
She also revealed that the payments made by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CNB) as at March stood at N691.560 billion.
“The increase in CBN payments partly arose from exchange rate differential at the point of payment,” Mrs Ahmed said.
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The minister, who did not divulge how much would accrue to each of the 36 states, noted that “some states still have outstanding balances, which will be refunded, in due course.”
The minister also stated that N4.8 trillion was shared out to the three-tiers of government between September, last year and April from the Federation Account.
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“The sum of N784.7 billion realised from Value Added Tax (VAT) for the same period was also shared.”
www.sojworld.com (c) May 17, 2019
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