The Federal Government on Tuesday said it will be extending the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy to cover more statutory agencies in 2017.
This was according to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who described the implementation of the TSA as “a success story”.
Adeosun made the disclosure in Abuja while speaking at the opening of a two-day retreat on the TSA.
The minister noted that e-commerce and e-payment providers would subsequently be accommodated on the platform as government would be reaching out to TSA service providers due to the “huge benefits” that come with the policy.
While affirming that the TSA was “here to stay”, Adeosun added that the Ministry of Finance had written to commercial banks to remit government funds in their possession.
She further said that the policy has been “an important reform of the current administration” as it allows Government to reduce its costs on borrowing.
“One of the challenges that we have is who should bear the cost of the TSA? Currently, it is being borne centrally but that is not sustainable,” the Minister stated.
“We are now working on how to stratify the various agencies. Those who should bear their own costs and costs that should be borne by the Government. This will be rolled out in this year.
“There are still funds in commercial banks and we have written to the banks, giving them a window to come forward. Where in doubt, they have been asked to consult us.
“We also have an audit team that has started the process of checking the completeness of monies that were transferred into the TSA and already, they have been able to recover a significant amount of money”.
“The policy allows us to manage our treasury functions with far more accuracy than what we had in the past. There is still a long way to go but overall, we are very satisfied with the progress we have made and we look forward to it being extended and utilised far more as the year goes on,” the Minister stated.