The Federal Government recorded a 12.8 per cent drop in its January revenue to N807.54 billion.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) monthly economic report, the government’s revenue fell below its benchmark, owing to the decline in non-oil receipts, resulting from the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on business activities and shortfalls in tax revenue.
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 (FGN) was lower-than-trend due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The report noted that the Federal Government expenditure grew from N717.60 billion in December 2020 to N770.77 billion in January.
It added that a fiscal deficit of N485.51 billion was recorded in the month under review.
Foreign exchange (forex) outflow through the economy also fell by 22.1 per cent and 57.1 per cent to $2.97 billion, from the levels of $3.81 billion and $6.92 billion respectively in the preceding month and the corresponding month of 2020.
“At N285.26 billion, Federal Government’s retained revenue fell short of its programmed benchmark and collections in January 2020, by 41.3 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively,” the report added. In contrast, its provisional aggregate expenditure rose from N717.60 billion in December 2020 to N770.77 billion in the reporting period, but remained 14.4 per cent below the monthly target of N900.88 billion.
“Fiscal operations of the FGN in January 2021 resulted in a tentative overall deficit of N485.51 billion.”