Government Generates N709.59 Billion in VAT Revenue in Q1 2023, Says NBS

In a report titled “Sectoral Distribution of Value Added Tax,” the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that the federal government generated a total of N709.59 billion as Value Added Tax (VAT) in the first quarter of 2023.

This figure reflects a growth rate of 1.75 percent compared to the previous quarter, where the VAT collection stood at N697.38 billion in Q4 2022.

A further breakdown of the VAT in the quarter under review showed that local VAT payments accounted for N436.10 billion while foreign VAT payments and import VAT contributed N151.13 billion and N122.37 billion, respectively.

A quarter-on-quarter breakdown showed that households experienced the most substantial growth at 349.86 percent. This was followed by the construction sector with 95.64 percent growth.

Conversely, the activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies reported the lowest growth rate at -53.54 percent, closely followed by real estate activities at -47.01 percent.

Examining the sectoral contributions to the VAT revenue, the report indicated that the manufacturing sector held the largest share at 29.65 percent in Q1 2023.

Information and communication followed closely with 19.29 percent, while mining and quarrying accounted for 12.24 percent.

In contrast, the activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies recorded a minimal share of 0.02 percent, with activities of households as employers and undifferentiated goods and services-producing activities of households for own use contributing 0.03 percent.

The water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities sector had a slightly higher share of 0.04 percent.

Despite the quarterly growth, the NBS highlighted that on a year-on-year basis, VAT collections in Q1 2023 witnessed a significant increase of 20.56 percent compared to the same period in 2022.