Nigeria’s public finances have declined as a result of a 0.1% increase in the Federal Government’s budget deficit from N823.91 billion in March to N824.79 billion in April.
This was stated in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) April 2024 Monthly Economic Report. According to the report, the deficit for the month was 7.92 percent greater than the N764.19 billion allocated.
Even though President Bola Tinubu’s inflation estimate for July decreased for the first time, the nation’s fight against oil theft has resulted in weak cash flow.
On the plus side, Nigerian nationals living overseas remitted $555 million home in July, demonstrating the incredible surge in remittances.
The report states that a 0.55 percent month-over-month (MoM) drop in retained income, from N422.23 billion in March to N419.91 billion in April, was the cause of the deficit’s growth.
Reduced exchange gain receipts were the cause of the revenue decrease.
In a similar vein, lower capital expenditure caused the FG’s April spending to drop MoM by 0.16 percent, to N1.246 trillion from N1.244 trillion in March.
The study stated: “The FGN’s fiscal operations at April led to an increase in the fiscal deficit. Provisional figures indicate that the main and overall deficits increased to N260.98 billion and N824.79 billion, respectively, from N249.43 billion and N823.91 billion in the previous month.”
“The increased loss represented a significant decrease in retained revenue. FGN retained revenue decreased throughout the review period due to lower collections from currency gains. According to preliminary figures, FGN retained revenue was N419.91 billion, down 0.55 and 74.29 percent from March 2024 and the monthly benchmark, respectively.”
“The preliminary figures indicated that lower capital spending was the reason for the FGN’s overall expenditure drop. Provisional statistics showed that spending was N1.245 trillion, which was 48.1% less than the N2.4 trillion target and 0.12% below than the level in the previous month.”
