The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that the Federal Government experienced a fiscal deficit of N930.8 billion during the months of January and February 2023. This information was provided in the CBN’s monthly economic report for February, which highlighted a drop in retained revenue as the primary cause for the expansion of the overall fiscal deficit.
The provisional fiscal deficit for the Federal Government in February reached N513.05 billion, marking a 22.8 percent increase compared to the previous month. However, it remained 16.2 percent below the budget benchmark. The report also indicated that the fiscal deficit in January amounted to N417.75 billion.
According to the report, the accretion into the federation account witnessed a significant decrease of 32.3 percent in February compared to the previous month, primarily due to a sharp 60.2 percent decline in oil revenue.
This decline in revenue led to a 22.8 percent expansion of the overall fiscal deficit (provisional), driven by a 16.4 percent surge in provisional Federal Government capital expenditure and a 7.7 percent decrease in retained revenue.
The report also mentioned that the total public debt stood at N46.25 trillion, equivalent to 23.2 percent of GDP, at the end of December 2022, remaining within the national threshold of 40.0 percent.
In terms of federation receipts, the report revealed that they amounted to N1.04 trillion, representing a 32.3 percent decrease compared to January.
Furthermore, this figure fell short of the budget target of N1.58 trillion by 34.3 percent. The decline was attributed to reduced collections from petroleum profit tax and royalties, with oil revenue experiencing a significant drop of 60.2 percent to N308.07 billion.
Non-oil revenue also witnessed a decline, reaching N730.21 billion, which was 3.7 percent lower than the preceding month and 7.4 percent below the monthly target. This decrease was primarily attributed to a 10.5 percent decline in collections from corporate tax, influenced by the seasonal nature of its payments.