The Federal Government recorded a fiscal deficit of N676.47bn in its operations within the first six months of the year, statistics obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria have revealed.
The N676.47bn deficit which is contained in the CBN report for the first half of this year represents about 2.1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.
This, according to the report, is higher than the budget deficit of N520.51bn envisaged for the first half of 2015 and the N587.98bn recorded in the second half of 2014.
The deficit was financed mostly from domestic sources such as the bond market.
The deficit was financed mostly from domestic sources such as the bond market.
The report said;
“The fiscal operations of the Federal Government resulted in an overall deficit of N676.47bn or 2.1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product at 2010 Constant Basic Prices.
“This was much higher than the proportionate budget deficit of N520.51bn for the first half of 2015 and the N587.98bn recorded in the second half of 2014.”
On what accounted for the fiscal deficit, the CBN report said the Federal Government’s retained revenue was N1.583tn while the expenditure of government dropped by 8.1 per cent to N2.259trn within the six months period.
The retained revenue of N1.58tn, according to the report, fell by 14.8 per cent below the first half of the 2015 budget estimate of N1.86tn.
A further analysis of the revenue revealed that the share from the Federation Account was N1.18tn or 74.5 per cent; Federal Government Independent Revenue, N290.93bn or 18.4 per cent, Value Added Tax Pool Account, N57.43bn or 3.6 per cent; and others, N54.72bn or 3.5 per cent.
It said the share from the Federation Account included the current federation revenue of N1.031tn (87.4 per cent); exchange rate gain of N96.44bn (8.2 per cent); the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation refunds of N44.71bn (3.8 per cent); and Excess Crude of N7.16bn (0.6 per cent).
The report said the decline in international oil prices which started in the second half of 2014 continued throughout the first half of 2015, with serious negative impact on the government revenue in 2015.