The Federal Government failed to meet its 2023 fiscal budget targets for the first 7 months of 2023 highlighting the level of fiscal crisis currently being faced by the government.
This is according to data obtained from the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for the period 2024-2026 as seen by TheWitness.
According to the budget performance data contained in the report, the federal government collected a revenue of N5.1 trillion in the first 7 months of 2023, compared to its prorated target of N6.4 trillion. This represents a 19.5% budget variance.
It also reported an overall expenditure of N8.5 trillion as against a budgeted expenditure of N13.2 trillion for the first 7 months of the year representing a budget variance of 34.9%.
Revenue: Oil revenue which is the major revenue source for the government generated a revenue of just N813.58 billion compared to its budgetary target of N1.3 trillion representing a massive variance of 37.4%.
FG’s share of the net federation account is 52.68%, the state share is 26.72%, and LG’s share of revenue is 20.6%.
Net VAT pool account distributable FGN share is 15%, while state and LGA are 35% respectively.
Expenditure: In terms of recurrent expenditure the government incurred N7.1 trillion which includes non-debt recurrent expenditure of N3.2 trillion.
The “Bottom-up Cash Plan” in the Nigerian context involves government agencies creating monthly cash requirements based on their actual needs, rather than receiving fixed allocations, to improve capital budget execution. It also includes the establishment of a revenue management team to identify and address revenue leakages, thereby increasing internally generated revenues (IGR).
The Nigerian Federal Government’s fiscal performance for the first seven months of 2023 raises significant concerns that could contribute to a fiscal crisis.
