Cover Story
Ayade presents another ambitious N1.1trn budget for 2020

Back from an overly ambitious N1.3 trillion budget in 2018, up from a moderate N300 billion in 2017, and no less ambitious N1.043 budget in 2019, Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, on Thursday presented another whooping N1.1 trillion 2020 budget to the state House of Assembly.
The budget estimates tagged budget of Olimpotic meristemasis is pegged at N1,100,167,507.09.
Giving a breakdown of the budget, Ayade said N911 billion representing 82 percent of the estimates will be for capital estimates while N188 billion representing 17.2 percent will be spent on recurrent expenditure.
This is even as the state ranks among the least in terms of revenue generation in the Niger Delta, having lost the bulk of its oil wells to neighbouring Akwa Ibom State.
At the moment, Cross River with foreign debt of $148 million as at July 30, 2019 according to DMO figures, is the third most indebted state after Lagos and Edo states in the foreign debt category.
On the domestic front, the state has a debt profile of N168 billion, again, one of the highest in the country.