Details have emerged from the 2024 budget proposal of Oyo, with government projecting a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of N5.87 trillion and a GDP growth rate of 4.88 percent.
The estimated GDP for the year 2024 is a 0.39 trillion increment from that of the year 2023 while the GDP growth rate is 0.07 per cent increase from the 2023 figure of 4.81 percent.
The figures show that the state population for 2024 is expected to rise to 10.1 million from the 2023 estimated population figure of 9.8 million, though the population growth rate is static at 3.35 percent.
For its public debt servicing for the next three years, the sum of N23 billion is set aside for each of the next three years, though the state boasts of reserve of about N37 billion for each of years 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Statutory allocation is put at N86 billion for the year 2024, Value Added Tax (VAT) estimated at N71.5 billion, Capital Receipts is N36.36 billion.
The Oyo State Economic Outlook came to the fore when State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Professor Musibau Babatunde presented highlights of the 2024 budget to journalists at State Secretariat, Ibadan, on Friday.
Identifying revenue generation as the major fiscal issue in the state, Babatunde said the state government was reviewing the current tax administration to ensure that the taxable entities will be brought into the tax net towards improving revenue generation.
He vowed that the state will, in the 2024 fiscal year, be aggressive and innovative in increasing the State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to meet the targeted N72 billion for next year.
As part of its measures, he said the state will be bullish about collecting land use charges apart from using technology to block leakages through key public financial reforms and improving revenue collection efficiency.
Babatunde vowed that the state would improve its revenue performance by over 70 percent, adding that the objective of the fiscal approach would be to further stimulate the economy through carefully calibrated regulatory/policy measures designed to boost domestic value-addition.
He added that the plan was also to de-risk the enterprise environment, attract external investment and sources of funding.
For 2024, he said the state would prioritize the allocation of adequate funds for prioritized on-going projects and programs, particularly those that would boost social and human capital.
To improve Internally Generated Revenue, he said MDAs are mandated to review the existing laws and regulations to improve and make for innovative Internally Generated Revenue, as well as stimulating interest in Micro, Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurship.
He added that the administration was poised to boost the State’s economic potentials through Agriculture and Agribusiness value chain, Tourism and Solid minerals, improved security of lives and properties.
He added that government’s focus was adequate provision for Government Counterpart Cash Contribution to donor-funded programmes in order to trigger the in-flow of expected revenue from this sub-sector and promotion of Public-Private Partnership as a vehicle in the delivery of infrastructure/services.
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