President Buhari

 

Within a three-year period covering July 2018 to June 2021, the Federal Government recorded a fiscal deficit of N15.35tn, statistics obtained from the Budget Office of the Federation have shown. A fiscal deficit is a shortfall in a government’s income compared with its spending. The government that has a fiscal deficit is spending beyond its revenues. Analysis by The PUNCH of statistics from the Ministry of Finance showed that during the review period, Federal Government retained revenue stood at N12.79tn, while aggregate expenditure stood at N28.14tn. The major sources of government revenue include oil revenue and non-oil revenue comprising of revenue from value added tax, company income tax, stamp duty and others. A breakdown of the figures showed that in the second half of 2018, the Federal Government generated N1.78tn as revenue and spent a total of N3.75tn, resulting in a fiscal deficit of N1.97tn. For the 2019 fiscal period, aggregate revenue generated in the first half of the year stood atN2.78tn but fell to N2.47tn in the second half. Meanwhile, the expenditure incurred was N3.67tn in H1 2019 and N4.91tn in H2 2019, creating a fiscal deficit of N89bn and N2.44tn in both halves of the year respectively.