CBN: FG Recorded N488bn Fiscal Deficit in April

The federal government’s retained revenue in April 2020 was N285.66 billion, while the government’s total expenditure was N773.91 billion, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed in its economic report for April.

The report obtained on the CBN’s website yesterday, showed put the deficit in the month under review at N488.25 billion.

“The total retained revenue of N285.66 billion recorded in April 2020, was 59.3 per cent below its benchmark. A breakdown of the revenue components showed that all the revenue heads were significantly below their budget benchmarks. However, the April receipts exceeded collections in March 2020 by 16.4 per cent but fell short of the collections in April 2019 by 14.8 per cent.

“The fiscal operations of the federal government in April 2020 resulted in a deficit of N488.24 billion compared with the N181.27 billion benchmark and its levels of N854.12 billion and N690.54 billion in March 2020 and April 2019, respectively.

“The observed moderation in the overall fiscal deficit in April, relative to comparable periods, could be attributed to the 16.3 per cent increase in revenue, and the 29.6 per cent decline in expenditure. Although the current deficit level is already significantly above the benchmark, it is expected to deteriorate further in the coming months, owing to the pessimism surrounding the infection curve of COVID-19, and the slowdown in economic activities, which are likely to induce extra-budgetary spending, funded by new borrowings,” it explained.

According to the report, the revenue profile of the federal government in the month under review, revealed subsisting revenue challenges because of declining oil receipts and low contribution of non-oil revenue.

However, the report showed that driven by the upturns in oil and non-oil revenue components, federally collected revenue in April 2020 rose by 25.4 per cent and 20.1 per cent to N915.28 billion, relative to its levels in March 2020 and April 2019, respectively. However, it was 30.4 per cent below its benchmark.