FG Overspent By N105bn In January

Jonathan looks

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that the federal government overspent by N105.47 billion in January due to decline in its revenue for the month.

This development was however due to decline in federally collected revenue which fell by 6.0 percent to N674.7 billion during the month.

The CBN disclosed this in its Economic Report for the month of January released on its website yesterday.

The report stated, “At N262.88 billion, the estimated Federal Government retained revenue for January 2014 was lower than the receipts in the preceding period by 10.5 percent, but exceeded the receipts in the corresponding period of 2013 by 0.4 per cent. Of the total amount, the Federation Account accounted for 84.1 per cent, while SURE-P, FGN Independent Revenue and VAT Pool Accounts, accounted for 6.2, 6.2 and 3.5 per cent, respectively.

“At N368.35 billion, total estimated expenditure for January 2014 was lower than the provisional monthly budget estimate by 23.7 per cent, but was above the level in the preceding period of December 2013 by 10.0 per cent. A breakdown of total expenditure showed that the recurrent expenditure accounted for 71.2 per cent, while the capital expenditure and the transfer components accounted for the balance of 23.5 and 5.3 per cent, respectively. Non-debt-obligations accounted for 76.5 per cent of the total recurrent expenditure, while debt service payments accounted for the balance of 23.5 per cent.

“Thus, the fiscal operations of the Federal Government resulted in an estimated deficit of N105.47 billion, compared with the provisional 2013 monthly budget deficit estimate of N73.92 billion for 2014.

“Available data showed that estimated federally- collected revenue (gross) in January 2014, at N674.7 billion, was below the receipts in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2013 by 6.0 and 12.8 per cent, respectively. The decline relative to receipts in the corresponding period of 2013 was attributed to the decline in gross oil revenue during the review period.

At N474.40 billion, oil receipts (gross), which constituted 70.3 per cent of the total revenue, was lower than the receipts in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2013, by 3.3 and 19.8 per cent, respectively. The fall in oil receipts relative to receipts in the preceding month, was attributed to the decline in receipts from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and Royalties Non-oil receipts (gross), at N200.27 billion or 29.7 per cent of the total, was 11.7 per cent lower than the receipts in the preceding month.

Relative to the corresponding month of 2013, non-oil receipts, however, rose by 10.1 per cent. The decline in non-oil revenue relative to the preceding month reflected, largely, the lower receipts from Corporate Tax and VAT during the review month.” [Vanguard]