The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that government’s revenue from non-oil exports grew by N1.106 billion in the month of April 2021, representing 28.2 per cent growth.
The growth was attributed to significant growth in non-oil tax receipts in April, prompted by the gradual return of business activities to pre-COVID-19 levels.
This was disclosed in the CBN’s monthly economic report for April posted on its website.
According to the report, at N1.106 trillion, the federation receipt in April 2021 outpaced both the budget benchmark and collections in March 2021 by 28.2 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively.
While oil revenue accounted for 35.5 per cent (or N392.91 billion) of total receipts in the period, non-oil revenue contributed 64.5 per cent (or N712.87 billion).
The report attributed the diminished share of oil to the meagre remittance of N3.79 billion from crude oil and gas exports, compared with N52.50 billion in the 2021 budget estimate.
This reflected the exacerbating incidence of cost ‘under-recovery,’ as reported by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), it stated.
The report said, “In addition, the significant decline in domestic crude oil and gas sales, also contributed to the meagre oil receipt during the period. The strong performance of non-oil revenue in April 2021 reflected the maturing benefits of the Strategic Revenue Generation Initiative (SRGI) of the federal government, as contained in the 2019 and 2020 Finance Acts.
“The contribution of non-oil revenue was driven, majorly, by higher earnings from Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Value Added Tax (VAT).”
The report, however, revealed that the federal government’s total outstanding contractual liabilities increased to N28.98 trillion at the end March 2021, indicating an increase of 15.8 per cent relative to March 2020 and 2.5 per cent compared to December 2020.
This was as debt service obligations grew to N1.03 trillion as at first quarter of 2021 compared with N779.73 billion and N461.98 billion in the first and fourth quarters of 2020, respectively.
