FG Acoount Over-spent by N365.3bn Between July-Dec 2014 – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, said the fiscal operations of the Federal Government in the second half of 2014 resulted in an over-spending of the budget by N365.35 billion or 0.8 per cent of GDP, as against the proportionate projected budget deficit of N482.10 billion for the period and N325.10 billion recorded in the first half of the year.

This fact is contained in the Financial Stability report of the CBN released on Thursday but published yesterday on its website. The report said that “the deficit was financed mostly from privatisation proceeds.”

According to CBN, “the second half of 2014 also witnessed the commencement of a sustained decline in international oil prices, a development that signalled a decline in government revenue in 2015, given the traditional dominance of oil receipts in its revenue profile.

“The Federal Government’s retained revenue for the second half of 2014,” the report noted, “increased to N1.95119 trillion, from N1.77127 trillion in the first half, but was lower than the budget estimate of N2.13404 trillion.”

Analysis of the retained revenue showed that the Federal Government’s share of the Federation Account was N1.40394 trillion (71.9 per cent); the VAT Pool Account, N55.62 billion (2.9 per cent); the Federal Government Independent Revenue was N284.14 billion (14.6 per cent); SURE-P netted N97.76 billion (5.0 per cent); while others, including excess crude and NNPC additional revenue, accounted for the balance of N109.73 billion (5.6 per cent).”

The report said the “Federal Government expenditure grew by 10.5 per cent to N2.31654 trillion, from N2.09637 trillion in the first half, compared with the budgeted expenditure of N2.61614 trillion for the second half of 2014.” (Vanguard)