In the first four months of 2022, the federal government’s retained revenue was N310 billion less than the cost of debt servicing.
This was stated by the federal government in its Thursday-released fiscal performance report for the first four months of 2022.
The study states that N1.94 trillion was spent on debt payments during the period, while the federal government’s overall revenue was N1.63 trillion.
Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning Zainab Ahmed stated that urgent action is needed to address income underperformance and expenditure efficiency at the national and sub-national levels while providing updates on the budget’s performance in Abuja.
“The aggregate expenditure for 2022 is estimated at N17.32 trillion, with a pro Rata spending target of N5.77 at end of April,” the report reads. The actual spending as of April 31st (sic) was N4.72 trillion. Of this amount, N1.94 trillion was for debt service, and N1.26 trillion was for personnel costs, including pensions.
As of April, N773.63 billion has been spent on capital expenditure.“As of April 2022, FGN’s retained revenue was only N1.63 trillion, 49 percent of the prorata target of N3.32 trillion.”
The document added that the federal government’s share of oil revenues was N285.38 billion (representing 39 per cent performance), while non-oil tax revenues totalled N632.56 billion — a performance of 84 percent.
Based on the figures, the government generated N401.8 billion from company income tax (CIT) and value-added tax (VAT).
“CIT and VAT collections were N298.83 billion and N102.97 billion, representing 99 percent and 98 percent of their respective targets,” the report added.
“Customs collections (made up of import duties, excise and fees, as well as federation account special levies) trailed target by N76.77 billion (25.42 percent)”. Other revenues amounted to N664.64 billion, of which independent revenue was N394.09 billion.
