Kemi Adeosun: "Funds Recovery through TSA could reduce borrowing to Implement 2016 Budget"

The finance minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has stated that expected amounts of money to be recovered from the Treasury Single Account (TSA), may likely reduce the amount of money to borrowed for the 2016 Budget.

 

Speaking at a one-day Treasury Single Account (TSA) workshop for the States Accountants-General she said that the global economic challenges affecting Nigeria demand optimum efficiency in the management of public funds.

 

“These objectives require an overhaul of the financial management approaches adopted to meet financial obligations on time and ensure that cost effective financial support is provided to public institutions.

“Much has been reported and debated about the merits of TSA and the impact on the finance autonomy of the various arms of government and on the profitability of commercial banks.

“In practice, TSA is an essential reform for any government wishing to pursue fiscal sustainability and prudent management of its resources. It increases accountability and transparency, improves the processing of payments and collections and reduces borrowing costs.

 

“It is worth reiterating some of the key benefits of TSA that we have recorded to date:

“TSA at Federal Level has allowed, for the first time, visibility of the total quantity of government funds at any point in time.

 

“The balance, which changes daily as MDA’s remit revenues and make payments, according to the latest reports from CBN exceeds N2.2 Trillion. I can report that work is now ongoing within The Treasury, to determine how much of these funds can potentially be utilised to part fund the 2016 budget and how much relates to pending commitments. This, of course, will reduce the amount to be borrowed.

 

“The TSA has provided us with financial information on the revenues of agencies funded by government and has reduced revenue suppression. This information is being used to drive our programme to enforce compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act and ensure that Revenue Generating Agencies generate expected surpluses and remit to the Federal Purse.

“TSA has corrected the practice of government borrowing short term funds at high rates of interest, whilst simultaneously having idle funds in various bank accounts.

 

“By reducing the number of accounts in operation, monitoring and control has significantly improved,” she added.

 

Adeosun therefore called for all means of improving the revenue base of the country through full implementation of TSA and blocking of all leakages and improving the efficiency of revenue administration.

 

The revenue base of the Country is still low and its administration still leaves room for improvement, she added.