- Govt’s Revenue Generation Performance Down 40%
A Banking Sector Report launched yesterday in Abuja said the government’s rvenue generation performance dipped by 40 per cent.
The report which was prepared by Afri-Invest West Africa, urged the Federal Government to adopt a pragmatic approach to shore up its independent revenue.
Presenting the report, the Managing Director, Afri-Invest West Africa, Ike Chioke, said it focussed on seven critical areas of the economy namely: oil and gas sector; power sector reform; boosting competitiveness; transportation and infrastructure; human capital development; security and building democratic institutions.
The report attributed the underperformance of revenue generation to what it called, “political distractions caused by election campaigns.”
According to the report, “the Federal Government plans to generate 41.6 per cent of its revenues from oil and the remainder from taxes, independent revenue and recoveries accounting for 40.5 per cent of total projected revenues and have historically underperformed.
“Given these considerations, as well as political distractions, we estimate a significant underperformance in revenues by 40 per cent. Hence, we estimate the fiscal deficit to expand to N4.4 trillion above budget estimate of N1.9 trillion, representing 3.5 per cent of nominal Gross Domestic Product-well above the three per cent threshold prescribed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
With regard to the oil and gas sector, he said: “There is need to revisit the Petroleum Industry Bill to ensure a full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector.”
The report noted that while the assumption for oil revenue was achievable, “that of independent revenue and recoveries remained a source for concern.”
