Nigeria’s fiscal deficit expanded by 22.8 percent in February to N513.05 billion relative to the previous month due to a 9 percent increase in aggregate expenditure by the federal government in the period.
According to the latest economic report of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), released on Friday, the deficits rose as the federal government’s retained revenue dropped.
The regulatory bank report, however, stated that the fiscal deficit was 16.2 percent below the budget benchmark.
It said the provisional retained revenue of the federal government declined as a result of a drop in its share of the federation account and independent revenue.
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The report showed that the retained revenue of the federal government dropped to N478.67 billion in February, below the level in January and the proportionate budget by 7.7 percent and 42.4 percent, respectively.
On the expenditure side, government expenditures increased on account of the rise in both recurrent and capital expenditures.
“Consequently, the provisional aggregate expenditure of the FGN at N991.62 billion rose by 5.9 percent relative to the level in January and was 31.3 percent below the monthly target.
“A breakdown of the expenditure reveals that recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure, and transfers accounted for 84.7 percent, 9.5 percent, and 5.8 percent of total expenditure, respectively,” the CBN report stated.
Source:Global Financial Digest
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