Nigeria Generates oil Revenue of N799.10bn in Q1, Misses target– CBN
A total sum of of N799.10 billion in crude oil sales was generated by the Federal government of Nigeria in the first quarter of the year (Q1 2022), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.
The figure is far less than the N2.38 trillion oil revenue projection for the period, and represented a 28.3 per cent decline from the N1.12 trillion realised in Q4 2021.
This was contained in the CBN Economic Report, First Quarter 2022, stating that the current fiscal outlook for the near term remained less optimistic as government revenue remains impaired by petrol subsidy burden and lower than expected crude oil production.
Amidst the current fiscal constraints, the report also noted that debt service obligations in Q1 gulped N897.17 billion compared to N428.60 billion in Q4, due largely to the principal repayments and redemption of matured debt obligations.
Nonetheless, non-oil revenues increased to N1.73 trillion compared to N1.48 trillion in the preceding quarter but fell short of the N2.22 trillion target for Q1.
According to the apex bank, federally-collected revenues declined to N1.67 trillion in the review period, compared to N1.93 trillion in Q4 and also fell below the N3.55 trillion projection.
However, the government’s retained revenue for the period was boosted by the significant increase in receipts from Value-Added Tax (VAT) and FGN Independent Revenue.
The retained revenue valued at N1.14 trillion exceeded receipts in the preceding quarter by 12.6 per cent.
The report however noted that the longstanding revenue challenge was evident as the outcome in the quarter was 57.6 per cent short of projection in the prorated quarterly budget.
The CBN added that “The effect of revenue increase outweighed the decline in aggregate expenditure, inducing a contraction in fiscal deficit, relative to the preceding quarter. At N1,617.84 billion, the provisional fiscal deficit of the FGN was 11.8 per cent below the level in the preceding quarter, but overshot the quarterly target of N1,596.52 billion by 1.3 per cent.”
The apex bank further stated that the Russia-Ukraine conflict that disrupted global economic activities led to a surge in international crude oil prices and helped improve Nigeria’s trade balance.
The report added that as a result, the current account recorded an impressive surplus of $2.58 billion, compared to $0.05 billion in the preceding quarter, attributed largely to improved export earnings.
However, the financial account posted a lower net acquisition of financial assets of $0.78 billion (0.7 per cent of GDP), compared to $5.15 billion (4.3 per cent of GDP) in Q1 2021, reflecting higher incurrence of financial liabilities.
