The Federal Government recorded N930.8bilion naira fiscal deficit in January and February 2023 according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The CBN stated in its monthly economic report for February 2023 that the estimated overall fiscal deficit of the Nigerian government expanded in February, due to a drop in the retained revenue.
According to the report, the fiscal deficit was N417.75billion naira in January.
The report said accretion into the federation account decreased by 32.3 per cent in February relative to the preceding month, on account of the 60.2 per cent fall in oil revenue.
It added that the development led to the expansion of the overall fiscal deficit (provisional) by 22.8 per cent due to a 16.4 per cent surge in provisional government capital expenditure, and a 7.7 per cent fall in the government’s retained revenue.
Total public debt at N46.25tn (23.2 per cent of GDP) at end-December 2022, remained within the 40.0 per cent national threshold.
The decrease was largely attributed to the 10.5 per cent decline
in collections from corporate tax on account of the seasonality
associated with its payments.
