Nigeria’s Fiscal Deficit Rises by N208.14 Billion in November

Nigeria’s fiscal deficit expanded by N208.14 billion from the N421.35 billion posted at the end of October 2020 to N620.49 billion at the end of November 2020.

The Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed this in its monthly economic report for the month of November released on Wednesday.

Part of the report read, “At N706.47bn, provisional gross federally collected revenue in November 2020 contracted by 16.6 per cent and 19.7 per cent, compared with the budget benchmark and the receipt in November 2019.

“It, however, increased by 7.2 per cent, relative to the preceding month. The increase was attributed to upticks in both oil and non-oil revenue components.

“Federal Government retained revenue stood at N284.76bn in November 2020, indicating a significant drop of 36.3 per cent, relative to its level in the corresponding period of 2019.

“Driven by the rise in personnel and overhead costs, provisional aggregate expenditure rose to N905.26bn from N738.71bn in the preceding period.

“Consequently, estimated fiscal deficit in November expanded to N620.49bn, relative to N421.35bn recorded in October 2020.

“Total FGN debt outstanding at end-June 2020 was N31.01tn; with domestic and external components accounting for 57.6 per cent and 42.4 per cent of the total debt stock respectively.”

According to the report, Nigeria recorded N632.83 billion, N409.4 billion and N246.8 billion in fiscal deficit for the months of July, August and September, respectively. While October number stood at N451.22 billion.

During the month under review, the federation account revenue increased to N535.07 billion, below the benchmark of N621.12 billion.