FG recorded N100.2b deficit in August – CBN •Jonathan has delivered on economy, says PDP •Show Nigerians facts, figures on job creation –APC By Kingsley Ighomwenghian and Akinwunmi King, Lagos Iwela-and-Sanusi-and-JonathanFor the umpteenth time this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the weekend reported that the Federal Government’s fiscal operations relating to its revenue and expenditure ended in a deficit at the end of August. Specifically, the CBN’s Economic Report for the period recorded “an estimated deficit of N100.28 billion, compared with the monthly budget estimate of N73.92 billion deficit.” The previous edition of the report (July 2013) put the deficit for the period at N65.37 billion, which was 10.7 per cent better than the N73.92 billion anticipated in the budget for the month. According to the report, government’s retained earnings stood at N261.88 billion in August, representing a 10.3 per cent drop when compared with receipts in July, and 35.9 per cent from the monthly budget estimate. Total estimated expenditure for the month at N362.16 billion, the report noted, was “lower than both the level in the preceding month and the monthly budget estimate by 9.8 and 25.0 per cent respectively. “A breakdown of the total expenditure showed that recurrent expenditure accounted for 67.5 per cent, while the capital expenditure and transfer components accounted for the balance of 21.8 and 10.7 per cent, respectively. “Non-debt-obligations accounted for 76.4 per cent of the total recurrent expenditure, while debt service payments accounted for the balance of 23.6 per cent,” the report added. According to the report, total federally collected revenue in August was N760.29 billion, a 19.5 per cent decline when compared with the monthly budget estimate, and 27.6 per cent below the receipts in the preceding month. This brought revenue between January and August 2013 to N6.611 trillion, representing a 12.5 per cent and 10.7 per cent drop below the budget estimate for the period and the receipts in the corresponding period of 2012, respectively. Of this amount, oil receipts represented 71.9 per cent, while non-oil receipts accounted for the balance of 28.1 per cent, the report added. The decline, compared with previous month’s level, was attributed to the fall in gross oil revenue, which stood at N457.23 billion. This constituted 60.1 per cent of the total revenue and fell below both the receipts in the preceding month and the monthly budget estimate by 29.2 and 29.1 per cent, respectively. The report added: “At N303.06 billion, gross non-oil receipts constituted 39.9 per cent of the total and was 0.9 per cent above the monthly budget estimate. This was however lower than the level in the preceding month by 25.1 per cent. “The increase in non-oil revenue relative to the receipts in the preceding month reflected, largely, the rise in receipts from corporate and education taxes,” it said. Statutory allocations to states estimated total receipts by state governments from the Federation and VAT Pool Accounts at N213.80 billion in August 2013, 22.8 per cent lower than the level in the preceding month, “but was higher than the level in the corresponding period of 2012 by 57.1 per cent.” Meanwhile, banking system’s credit (net) to the Federal Government for the period, the report continued, dropped by 47.4 per cent to negative N2.913 trillion, compared with 17.6 per cent and 2.4 per cent growth at the end of July and the corresponding period of 2012, respectively. However, an elated leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday applauded President Goodluck Jonathan for the milestones so far achieved in the critical sectors of the economy through its Transformation Agenda. The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, noted that the President has vigorously pursued his economic reforms and expressed happiness that they have started yielding results. “We are indeed highly impressed that the reforms initiated by the President have started yielding very high dividends resulting in a massive leap in the nation’s economy which has also been acknowledged by the world community; the latest being the Fitch Ratings which affirmed Nigeria’s long-term foreign and local currency IDRs as well as senior unsecured bond and Short-term foreign currency IDR ratings respectively at ‘BBs’.” The party noted that “it is heart-warming that at a time other economies of the world are having a downward trend, Nigeria’s economy on the other hand is experiencing stability and growth.” It listed some of the factors that led to the positive rating to include massive developments in the power, agriculture and road sectors as well as reforms in finance, commerce and industry. Particularly, the PDP commended the President for “initiating the New Automobile Industrial Policy Development which is focused on promoting investments in affordable Made-in- Nigeria vehicles” just as it noted “the conclusion of arrangements to kick-off passenger service on the Eastern railway route before the end of December.” On the power sector, PDP noted that “President Jonathan has shown resilience in ensuring the achievement of production targets. We note the acceleration of works that led to the commissioning of the Geregu Power Project in Kogi State on October 4, 2013 as well as the Omotosho 2 Power Station in Ondo State which was commissioned last Saturday.” But the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenged the Federal Government to come with convincing figures on number of jobs that have been created if truly the economy was stable as claimed by the PDP. Interim National Publicity Secretary of APC, Lai Mohammed, in an exclusive chat with Daily Independent, while challenging the claim by the PDP that the country’s economy is stable, noted that all over the world, the number of jobs created is used to determine the state of the economy. According to APC’s spokesman, “Quarterly in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, they record the number of jobs created and the number of jobs that were lost and with that they can determine the situation of their economy. “So the Federal Government must come out with a figure and if that figure does not transform into infrastructural development, it cannot be referred to as growth. “We are challenging the Federal Government to tell us how many jobs they have created and how many jobs have been lost. “They should tell us how many new factories have come in and how many have relocated to neighbouring countries. If it is true that the economy is improving as claimed, then the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) won’t be on strike,” Mohammed stated.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 19:53:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015