AFTER recording an aggregate expenditure of N559.67b and retained revenue of N409.31b for the month of April, the Federal Government recorded a fiscal deficit of N150.36b.
This was revealed by figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s April report on ‘Fiscal operations of the Federal Government’ on Saturday.
The report partly reads, “Federation revenue rose by 28.2 per cent in April 2021 to N1.12tn, relative to N862.79b in March 2021, owing to improved non-oil earnings.
“However, the retained revenue of the Federal Government of Nigeria at N409.31b, was 38.5 per cent below target.
“Similarly, the provisional aggregate expenditure of the FGN, at N559.67b, was 50.6 per cent below the budget benchmark and 59.4 per cent short of the level in March 2021.
“Consequently, the fiscal operations of the FGN in April 2021 contracted by 67.8 per cent, relative to the budget estimate.”
The report also added that Nigeria’s outstanding debt, as of the end-March 2021, stood at N28,984.3b and represented a 15.8 per cent increase, relative to its level in March 2020.
