The Federal Government recorded an N485.51bn fiscal deficit in January, statistics obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria have shown.
According to the monthly economic report for January released by the CBN on Friday, the low revenue performance in January was due to the decline in non-oil receipts following the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on business activities and the resultant shortfall in tax revenues.
Part of the report read, “Federally collected revenue in January 2021 was N807.54bn.
“This was 4.6 percent below the provisional budget benchmark and 12.8 percent lower than the collection in the corresponding period of 2020.
“Oil and non-oil revenue constituted 45.4 percent and 54.6 percent of the total collection respectively. The modest rebound in crude oil prices in the preceding three months enhanced the contribution of oil revenue to total revenue, relative to the budget benchmark.
“Non-oil revenue sources underperformed, owing to the shortfalls in collections from VAT, corporate tax, and FGN independent revenue sources.
“Retained revenue of the Federal Government of Nigeria was lower-than-trend due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At N285.26bn, FGN’s retained revenue fell short of its programmed benchmark and collections in January 2020, by 41.3 percent and 7.5 percent respectively.
“In contrast, the provisional aggregate expenditure of the FGN rose from N717.6bn in December 2020 to N770.77bn in the reporting period but remained 14.4 percent below the monthly target of N900.88bn.
“Fiscal operations of the FGN in January 2021 resulted in a tentative overall deficit of N485.51bn.”
The report said that the total public debt outstanding of the FGN as of the end-September 2020, stood at N28.03tn, with domestic and external debts accounting for 56.5 percent and 43.5 percent, respectively.
According to the report, the continued spread of the COVID–19 pandemic weakened global economic recovery and led to a decline in foreign exchange inflow into the economy in the month under review.
Provisional data showed that aggregate foreign exchange inflow into the economy was $5.47bn, showing decreases of 54.2 percent and 67.5 percent below its level in the preceding month and the corresponding month of 2020 respectively.
This was attributed to the respective 66.2 percent and 45.1 percent decrease in inflow through the CBN and autonomous sources.
Foreign exchange outflow through the economy fell by 22.1 percent and 57.1 percent to $2.97bn, from the levels of $3.81bn and $6.92bn respectively in the preceding month and the corresponding month of 2020.
This was driven, largely, by the decline in outflow through the CBN.
Consequently, the foreign exchange transactions through the economy resulted in a net inflow of $2.5bn, compared with $8.1bn and $9.9bn in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2020 respectively.
Ada Peter
