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CBN: FG’s revenue fell 27% to N616.35bn in October

Federally-collected revenue in October 2020 dropped to N616.35 billion, falling below the monthly budget estimate of N846.84 billion by 27.2 per cent, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.

The apex bank, which stated this in its economic report for October 2020 posted on its website yesterday also disclosed that federallycollected revenue for that month fell by 18.3 per cent and 33.0 per cent compared with the amounts in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2019, respectively.

The report attributed the shortfall to declines in both oil and non-oil revenue components. Specifically, it stated: “Relative to the budget benchmark and the corresponding period of 2019, oil revenue fell by 41.8 per cent and 50.0 per cent, respectively. Although, at N96.53 billion, domestic crude oil and gas sales rose substantially by 103.6 per cent relative to receipts in September 2020, it was less than the collections in October 2019.

“The value of crude oil and gas exports fell by 64.8 per cent below its level in the corresponding period of 2019. The decline was attributed to weakened global demand owing to the lingering effects of COVID-19, as Nigeria’s crude oil export fell to 1.06mbd in October 2020 from the 1.48mbd in October 2019.” The report further said: “The adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic subdued non-oil revenue in October 2020, as receipts fell by 27.0 per cent and 1.1 per cent, relative to the levels in September 2020 and October 2019.

“Receipts from corporate tax was the worst hit, having recorded declines of 56.5 per cent and 30.2 per cent below its levels in September 2020 and October 2019 respectively. The significant drop in corporate tax was due mainly to the fact that the dates for filing returns by companies were not yet due. Collections from VAT, which accounted for about 41.9 per cent, fell by 5.6 per cent to N141.86 billion, from N150.23 billion collected in September 2020.”

According to the report, while the Federal Government’s retained revenue stood at N274.48 billion in October 2020, indicating a drop of 6.6 per cent and 52.8 per cent relative to the levels in the preceding month and corresponding period of 2019, provisional aggregate expenditure rose to N725.70 billion from N712.30 billion in the preceding period, driven by the rise in personnel costs and capital releases.

Thus, estimated fiscal deficit in October 2020 widened to N451.22 billion, from N418.50 billion in the preceding month. On foreign exchange flows through the economy during the period, the report stated: “Available data showed that aggregate foreign exchange inflow to the economy was $6.47 billion, compared with $7.34 billion in the preceding month and $9.23 billion in the corresponding period of 2019, indicating a decrease of 11.9 per cent and 29.9 per cent respectively.

“The reduction in foreign exchange inflow through the economy was mainly attributed to the fall in foreign exchange earnings from the oil and non-oil receipts by 39.6 per cent and 14.9 per cent respectively. On the other hand, foreign exchange outflow through the economy, driven largely by outflow through the bank, rose by 23.2 per cent to $2.60 billion, compared with the level in the preceding month.

It, however, declined by 51.4 per cent relative to the level in the corresponding month of 2019. “The development relative to the preceding month was attributed mainly to the 22.8 per cent increase in the foreign exchange outflows through the bank, especially for interbank utilisation during the review period. Consequently, the foreign exchange transactions through the economy resulted in a net inflow of $3.87 billion, a decrease of 26.1 per cent below the net inflow of $5.23 billion in the preceding month, but remained steady when compared with the level in the corresponding month of 2019,” it added.

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