THE Cross River State government has proposed to spend N144.6 billion in 2012.

The state is expecting to generate N25.9 billion from internal sources and N39.2 billion from federal sources, totaling N65.4 billion and N79.4 billion from capital receipts.

A breakdown shows that the economic sector takes the highest with N68.2 billion, social services N36.3 billion, regional development N13.6 billion and general administration, N26.3 billion.

At his 2012 budget presentation tagged: "Budget of Delivery", Governor Liyel Imoke pointed out that "in spite of Mr. President's initiative to mitigate our lost oil revenue, we continue to grapple with this unjust deprivation, which has robbed us of over N20 billion so far. Nevertheless, our determination to deliver on our goals remains uncompromised. These challenges have served as motivation for us to break fallow grounds and re-examine the performance and promote our services to our people".

On debt management, he did not disclose the state's total debt profile but, however, said: "As a state, we are committed to meeting our debt servicing obligations. In 2011, we spent over N10,000,000,000 on servicing our local and international debt obligations".

Imoke added: "Let me restate our commitment to remaining a responsible government by honouring the terms of our debt agreements and maintaining a sustainable level of debt commensurate with the rate and pace of our development as a state. We have accordingly set aside the sum of N13 billion for debt servicing in 2012. This represents 22 per cent of our total recurrent estimate for the year.

"Encouraged by our progress and seemingly impressed by the management of our debt profile, we are expecting about N5.6 billion as loans and grants from International Development Organisations in 2012. We intend to continue to meet our debt servicing obligations in 2012".

Cross River State : Imoke budgets N144.6b .