Nigeria’s govt spending more than it gets to service debt, latest data shows

The cost of servicing Nigeria’s debt surpassed federal government’s retained revenue by N310 billion in the first four months of 2022, between January and April.

This was disclosed in the federal government’s 2022 fiscal performance for the first quarter released on Thursday.

The document disclosed that the federal government’s total revenue for the period was N1.63 trillion, while debt service gulped N1.94 trillion.

Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, while giving updates on the budget performance in Abuja on Thursday, said urgent action is urgently required to address revenue underperformance and expenditure efficiency at national and sub-national levels.

“The aggregate expenditure for 2022 is estimated at N17.32 trillion, with a prorata spending target of N5.77 at end of April,” the document reads.

“The actual spending as of April 31st was N4.72 trillion. Of this amount, N1.94 trillion was for debt service, and N1.26 trillion was for personnel costs, including pensions.

“As at April, N773.63 billion has been spent on capital expenditure.

“As of April 2022, FGN’s retained revenue was only N1.63 trillion, 49 percent of the prorata target of N3.32 trillion.”

The document added that the federal government’s share of oil revenues was N285.38 billion (representing 39 percent performance), while non-oil tax revenues totalled N632.56 billion — a performance of 84 percent.

Based on the figures, the government generated N401.8 billion from company income tax (CIT) and value-added tax (VAT).

“CIT and VAT collections were N298.83 billion and N102.97 billion, representing 99 percent and 98 percent of their respective targets,” the document added.

“Customs collections (made up of import duties, excise and fees, as well as federation account special levies) trailed target by N76.77 billion (25.42 percent).

“Other revenues amounted to N664.64 billion, of which independent revenue was N394.09 billion.”