The Minister of finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun Monday disclosed that recoveries from the Single Treasury Account (TSA) may reduce amount to be borrowed for 2016 budget.
Delivering a keynote address at a one day TSA workshop for state Accountants-General in Abuja, the minister highlighted the importance of TSA.
“It increases accountability and transparency, improves the processing of payments and collections and reduces borrowing costs,” Adeosun said.
“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,” Adeosun said.
“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 eliminated opportunities for brokerage and other corrupt practices that previously encouraged agencies to accumulate funds with commercial banks rather than apply them to their intended uses. We believe that this will reduce payment delays to contractors, minimise late payment penalties and will consequently improve project completion times and service delivery.”
“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.”
The minister urged participants at the workshop to discuss and brainstorm on ways and means of improving the revenue base of the country through full implementation of TSA and blocking of all leakages
