FG to Roll out Tax Incentives, Shares N420bn with States, LGs

• FG to Roll out Tax Incentives, Shares N420bn with States, LGs

The federal government has unfolded its plan to roll out tax incentives for the manufacturing sector in a bid to stimulate the economy.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said the proposed incentives were aimed at stimulating the economy and get it out of recession next year.

Briefing journalists at the end of the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja, she regretted that the manufacturing sector was challenged because of foreign exchange issues triggered by inconsistencies in forex policies.

Describing forex as a major issue for manufacturing, she noted that “they will do better if there is consistency in forex policy.” She stated that manufacturing remains very critical to the growth of the economy and getting the country out of recession.

Adeosun acknowledged that settling domestic debt was critical to getting the economy of the woods.

Meanwhile, for two consecutive months, allocation to the federal, states and local governments remained stagnant as the three tiers shared N420 billion at the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), for October.

The same amount was shared for the month of September after they distributed N510.2 billion in the previous month (August).

A breakdown of the October figures shows that from the statutory revenue, the federal government received N96.674 billion (52.68 per cent); states N49.035 billion (26.72 per cent); local governments N37.804 billion (20.60 per cent); while the oil producing states received N13.548 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

According to the figures released by Office of the Accountant General of the Federation after the monthly FAAC meeting in Abuja yesterday, the gross statutory revenue of N238.716 billion received for the month was lower than the N279.746 billion received in the previous month by N 41.030 billion.

Crude oil export volume also decreased while the average price of crude oil dropped, resulting in revenue loss of about $51million in federation export sales.

Force majeure was also declared at Qua Iboe Terminal and the NGL lifting programmes with the force majeure at Forcados Terminal still in place.

Shut-in and shut-down of pipelines for repairs and maintenance due to attacks on delivery pipelines also contributed to the low revenue.

There were decreases in volume of import duty and Companies Income Tax (CIT) while Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and oil royalty recorded marginal increases.

The distributable Statutory Revenue for the month is N203.952 billion while the sum of N6.330 billion was refunded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the federal government.

The sum of N109.108 billion was proposed for distribution from Excess PPT Account just as an exchange gain of N 37.319 billion was proposed for distribution, bringing the total revenue distributable for October (including VAT) to N420 billion.