The Federal Government recorded a deficit of N725.18 billion
in its fiscal operations in the first quarter of 2016, according to data
released yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Nigeria also earned
$1.02 billion from its non-oil exports during the period, and this represents an
increase of 38.6 percent or $393.7 million (N78.7bn) over the amount earned in
the same period of 2015.
The CBN, in its Economic Report for the First Quarter of
2016, attributed the deficit to an expenditure of N1.23 trillion, over retained
earnings of N505.1 billion in the period under review. The deficit, the report
said, was a result of a decline in oil and non-oil revenues and a rise in
capital expenditure in the quarter under review.
The dip in oil earnings was attributed to a sharp drop in oil
and gas export, low price of crude oil in the international market and the
persistent disruption in petroleum export due to vandalism and production
shut-ins.
According to the report, the estimated fiscal deficit of
N725.18 billion indicated an increase of 178.6 percent above the 2015
provisional quarterly budget deficit of N260.25 billion. The CBN also stated
that the Federal Government’s expenditure for the first quarter was 3.4 percent
higher than the provisional quarterly budget estimate, but was below level in
the fourth quarter of 2015 by 20.3 percent.
Specifically, breakdown of total expenditure showed that
recurrent expenditure accounted for 72.8 percent of the total, while capital
and statutory transfers accounted for 18 and 9.2 percent, respectively.
In the recurrent expenditure aspect, the report noted that
non-debt component accounted for 72.7 percent, while debt service payments
accounted for the balance of 27.3 percent. Using provisional data, CBN further
stated that the Federal Government’s retained revenue for the first quarter of
2016, of N505.07 billion was below the receipts in the fourth quarter of 2015
by 37.5 percent.
Giving a breakdown of government’s total revenue, the report
disclosed that Federation Account accounted for 81.6 percent of the total,
while Independent Revenue, Value Added Tax, VAT, and others, comprising the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC’s Refund and Exchange Gain,
accounted for 8.0, 5.6 and 4.8 percent, respectively.
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