The Federal Government posted a fiscal deficit of N930.8 billion in January and February 2023, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to the report-
“The estimated overall fiscal deficit of the FGN expanded in February, due to a drop in the retained revenue.
“At N513.05bn, the provisional fiscal deficit of the FGN rose by 22.8 per cent relative to the preceding month. However, it was 16.2 per cent below the budget benchmark.”
This was noted by the CBN in its monthly economic report for February 2023. The report states that in January, the fiscal deficit was N417.75 billion. According to the data, the accretion into the federation account declined by 32.3% in February compared to the month before because of a decline in oil income of 60.2%.
It also stated that the development caused the overall fiscal deficit (provisional) to widen by 22.8% as a result of an increase in provisional FGN capital expenditure of 16.4% and a decrease in FGN retained income of 7.7%.
Total governmental debt was at N46.25 trillion (23.2% of GDP) at the end of December 2022, remaining below the 40.0% national benchmark.
The report further stated-
“At N1.04tn, federation receipts were below the level in January by 32.3 per cent. Similarly, it was below the budget2 of N1.58tn by 34.3 per cent.
“The decline, relative to January was attributed to a fall in collections from petroleum profit tax and royalties. Oil revenue, at N308.07bn, was 60.2 per cent below receipts in the preceding month.
“The outcome was driven, largely, by the 60.5% decrease in collections from petroleum profit tax and royalties.”
Non-oil income was N730.21 billion, which was 3.7% lower than the previous month and 7.4% below the monthly objective. The drop was mostly linked to a 10.5% drop in corporation tax receipts due to the seasonality of their payments.
