Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has revealed that additional resources that the government would generate from the increase in the value-added tax (VAT) rate from its current 5% to 7.5% will be used to fund the country’s health programmes.
The president said this recently while presenting the 2020 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly.
As the States and Local Governments are allocated 85% of all VAT revenues, we expect to see greater quality and efficiency in their spending in these areas as well.
President Muhammadu Buhari
In his speech, Buhari also announced that in 2020, a statutory transfer of N44.5 billion will be made for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).
He also announced plans to spend N46 billion as capital expenditure for the health sector. This ranks 11 out of a total of 17.
The president described the the 2020 Appropriation as a budget of “Fiscal consolidation, to strengthen our macroeconomic environment; Investing in critical infrastructure, human capital development and enabling institutions, especially in key job creating sectors; Incentivising private sector investment essential to complement the Government’s development plans, policies and programmes; and d. Enhancing our social investment programs to further deepen their impact on those marginalised and most vulnerable Nigerians.”
