Section 56: Interpretation.

In this Act:
"Appropriation Act" means an Act or law passed by the National or State Assembly or Local Government authorizing spending from Consolidated Revenue Fund and includes a Supplementary Appropriation Act or Law;
"Appropriation Bill'' means the Bill referred to in sections 59 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999;
"Arms of Government" means the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary;
" Borrowing" means any financial obligation arising from:
(i) any loan including principal, interest, fees of such loan,
(ii) the deferred payment for property, goods or services,
(iii) bonds, debentures, notes or similar instruments,
(iv) letter of credit and reimbursement obligations respect thereto,
(v) trade or hankers' acceptances,
(vi) capitalized amount of obligations under leases entered into primarily as a method of raising financing or of financing the acquisition of the asset leased.
(vii) agreements providing for swap ceiling rates, ceiling and floor rates, contingent participation or other hedging mechanisms with respect to the payment of interest or the convertibility of currency and
(viii) a conditional sale agreement, capital lease or other title retention agreement;
"Budget Call Circular" means a circular:
(i) requesting the submissions in a prescribed form, of the revenue and expenditure estimates of ministries, extra-ministerial departments, and other executing agencies of Government for the next financial year; and
(ii) giving detailed guidelines and instructions on the preparation of the estimates and expenditure in a manner consistent with the medium-term developmental priorities set out in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework;
"Capital Expenditure'' means spending on an asset that lasts for more than one financial year and expenses associated with the acquisition of such assets;
"concessional terms'' means the terms of the loan must be at an interest rate not exceeding 3 percent;
"consolidated debt'' means the aggregate of the outstanding financial obligations of Government including those of its Parastatals and agencies at any point in time arising from:
(i) borrowed money including principal, interest, fees of such borrowed money,
(ii) the deferred payment for property, goods or services.
(iii) bonds, debentures, notes or similar instruments,
(iv) letters of credit and reimbursement obligations with respect thereto,
(v) Guarantees,
(vi) trade or bankers' acceptances;
(vii) capitalized amounts of obligations under leases entered into primarily as a method of raising as financing or of financing the acquisition of the asset leased,
(viii) agreements providing for swaps, ceiling rates, ceiling and floor rates, contingent participation or other hedging mechanisms with respect to payment of interest and convertibility of currency, and
(ix) a conditional sale agreement, capital lease or other title retention agreement ;
"Cost-benefit-analysis" means an analysis that compares the cost of undertaking a service, project or programme with the benefits that citizens are likely to derive from it;
"Fiscal Risk Appendix" An explanatory attachment that provide a set of indicator can be used to measure local fiscal risks;
"Fiscal Risk Target'' provides numerical target for each risk indicator with which a fiscal entity will be considered fiscally healthy.
"Financial Year'' has the meaning ascribed in the constitution;
"Fiscal Policy Objectives" means the goals set by Government for attainment of set targets for a given period;
"Government Owned Company'' means a statutory corporation, Government agency and a company in which Government has controlling interest;
"Medium-Term Expenditure Framework" means the document referred to and the content of which is prescribed in section 1 of this Act;
"Minister'' means the Minister charged with the responsibility for finance;
''Net debt'' means the Consolidated Debt less what is owed to the Government, its Parastatals and agencies at any point in time;
''President'' means the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
''Public Debt Securities'' means public debt represented by securities issued by the Federal Government (including those of the Central Bank of Nigeria), the State and Local Government;
"Public Expenditure" means outlays other than those resulting into debt reduction;
"Public revenue" all moneys received by a Government in the Federation;
"Quarter'' means one quarter of a financial year and quarterly shall be construed accordingly;
"Recurrent Expenditure'' means normal overhead and administrative expenses and personnel cost including salaries, emoluments and other benefits of employees;
''Reference Commodity Price'' means such price as may be determined by the President subject to the approval of the National Assembly ;
''Refinancing of debt securities" means issuance of securities to repay the existing debt;
''State financial institution'' means any financial institution in which one or more state governments has controlling shares;
''State'' shall be construed to include The Federal Capital Territory;
''Tax expenditure projections" means the projected amount expected to be utilised in the granting tax relief or tax holiday;
"Tax revenue projections'' means the projected collectible tax or revenue within a particular planning period ; and
''Tiers of Government'' means the Federal, State and Local Governments;