FG’s retain revenue falls below monthly budget by 45.3%
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The estimated Federal Government retained revenue at N344.33 billion, was below the monthly budget estimate of N629.44 billion by 45.3 per cent in the month of August 2018.
A breakdown showed that Federation Account constituted 78.4 per cent of the total revenue, while exchange gain, FGN independent revenue, VAT and NNPC additional revenue accounted for 8.9 percent, 7.8 per cent, 3.3 per cent, and 1.6 per cent, respectively.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) economic report for the month of August show that the estimated total expenditure of the Federal Government, which stood at N309.12 billion, was 36.3 per cent below N485.38 billion in July, 2018, and 61.0 per cent below the monthly budget estimate of N792.31 billion.
Total recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure and transfers constituted 92.9 per cent, 1.5 per cent and 5.6 per cent of the total, respectively. A breakdown of the recurrent expenditure showed that non-debt obligation was 34.7 per cent, while debt service payments accounted for the balance of 65.3 per cent.
Consequently, the fiscal operations of the Federal Government resulted in an estimated surplus of N35.21 billion, compared with the monthly budget deficit of N162.87 billion.
The estimated federally-collected revenue (gross) stood at N745.52 billion in August, 2018. It fell below the 2018 monthly budget estimate of N1.10 trillion by 32.7 percent and below the receipt in the preceding month of N947.62 billion by 21.3 percent.
The decline relative to the monthly budget estimate was attributed to a shortfall in both oil and non-oil revenue.
Oil receipts at N403.59 billion or 54.1 per cent of total revenue, was below the monthly budget estimate of N640.21 billion by 37.0 per cent, as well as below the preceding month’s receipt of N513.54 billion by 21.4 per cent. The fall in oil revenue relative to the monthly budget estimate was attributed to the drop in crude oil production arising from repairs and maintenance of oil facilities at various NNPC terminals.
The CBN’s report indicated that at N341.93 billion or 45.9 per cent of total revenue, non-oil revenue was below both the 2018 monthly budget estimate of N466.91 billion and the N434.08 billion received in July 2018 by 26.8 and 21.2 per cent, respectively. The lower revenue relative to the monthly budget estimate was due to shortfalls recorded in most of the components.
Of the total federally-collected revenue (net), N557.16 billion was retained in the Federation Account, while N76.61 billion, N26.86 billion and N13.43 billion were transferred to the VAT Pool Account, the Federal Government Independent revenue and “Others”, respectively.