Drums of oil

The Federal Government’s fiscal operations in the early part of this year have resulted into a 22.8 per cent rise in deficit spending in February 2023. The development was driven by a huge drop in oil revenue during the period. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in its Monthly Economic Report, MER, for February 2023 released yesterday, indicated that the deficit during the month of February was N513.05 billion, bringing the total deficit for the first two months of 2023 to N931 billion. The report indicated that the oil sector, which had recorded a growth of 31 per cent to N774.15 billion in January took a 60 per cent plunge to N308.07 billion in February. The situation was not helped by a similar trend recorded for non-oil revenue, with a 3.7 per cent decline to N730.2 billion during the period. As a result, revenue accruing to the Federation Account in February declined 32.3 % in February. The CBN also reported that the expenditure side of the fiscal operations compounded the deficit position with a 5.9 percent increase in expenditure to N991.6 billion during the period. The CBN stated: “At N1.038 trillion, federation receipts were below the level in January by 32.3 per cent.

Vanguard