Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi has sent a revised 2020 budget of 131,847,577,874.61 billion Naira to the people of the state for their input.
The revised proposal is 26% lower than the 178,136,634,975.38 billion Naira budget approved on December 20, 2019.
Presenting the revised draft fiscal proposal in Abakaliki, Governor Umahi pointed out that the downward review of the 2020 budget became necessary in order to meet up with the realities posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the revised proposal a total of 15. 5% of the budget will be dedicated for the COVID-19 crises management, while the Health and Education sectors are to receive an upward review of 8.13% and 1.38% respectively.
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The Governor made it clear that the salaries of the state workforce and pensioners will remain intact irrespective of the economic downturn of the state, just as he announced tax relief to cushion the impact of general economic meltdown in the country.
The Town Hall had in attendance representatives of various interest groups including the NLC, NMA, NUT, the traders bodies, among others.
The draft will be sent as a revised budget bill to the Ebonyi state House of Assembly for passage after inputs by the people.