Nigerian Economy Fails To Meet 2024 Revenue Target: CBN Report States
The 2024 economic report released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), for fourth quarter of 2024, has revealed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government failed to meet revenue targets for the quarter.
The report showed that federally collected revenue saw a 5.31% increase compared to the previous quarter indicating a short fall of the benchmark by 19.67%.
The report further stated that the Federal Government retained revenue was 10.40% higher than the preceding quarter but remained significantly below the target, thereby standing 48.57% short of the expected figure.
It noted that on the expenditure side, aggregate expenditure increased by 2.22% compared to Q3 2024, though it was 22.09% lower than the quarterly target.
The report said that as a result, the fiscal deficit narrowed by 3.61% compared to the previous quarter, but widened by 34.44% relative to the proportionate quarterly target.
The CBN report also noted that in terms of gross federation account earnings, the period saw an improvement, largely driven by higher receipts from oil revenue, adding that the provisional gross federation account receipts stood at ₦7.23 trillion, reflecting a 5.31% increase from the preceding quarter, but still 19.67% below the benchmark.
According to the Report, oil revenue specifically saw a significant rise of 53.59%, reaching ₦2trillion compared to Q3 2024, adding that despite the increase, it fell short of the quarterly target by 62.19%.
It noted that Nigeria has struggled to fund its budget overtime by relying heavily on loans which have overtime led to high debt servicing figures.
The CBN report highlighted the challenge of debt by Nigeria, saying; “At end-September 2024, public debt stock remained within the 70.00 per cent threshold for Market-Access Countries.
“Total public debt outstanding stood at ₦142.32 trillion (51.29% of GDP), at end of September 2024, and was 5.97 per cent, higher than the level,” it stated.
