- The accountant general of the federation, Ahmed Idris, says allocations from the Federation Account to the three tiers of government has declined
- Ahmed Idris attributes the decrease in revenue to crude oil production setbacks caused by sabotage and shutdown of installations, especially in the Niger Delta region
- CBN raises concern over the borrowing attitude of federal government
This is not the best of times for Nigeria's economy as the country’s excess crude account balance has dropped to $2.29 billion on May 23 from $2.49 billion on April 25.
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Disclosing this on Tuesday, May 23, the accountant general of the federation, Ahmed Idris, said allocations from the Federation Account to the three tiers of government also declined by N52. 07 billion from the N467.8 billion shared in March to N 415.73 billion in April this year, Premium Times reports.
Idris who spoke after a Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held at the ministry of Finance in Abuja, noted that a decrease of N57.47 billion was also recorded in gross statutory revenue from N331.58 billion in March to N274.1 billion in April.
He said the federal government received N163.89 billion while states and the 774 local government councils received N117.59 billion and N87.77 billion, respectively.
According to the accountant general, N29.83 billion was shared to the oil-producing states based on the 13 per cent derivation principle, while the revenue- generating agencies received N16.52 billion as cost of revenue collection.
He attributed the decrease in revenue to crude oil production to setbacks caused by sabotage and shutdown of installations, especially in the Niger Delta region.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised concern over the borrowing attitude of federal government.
NAIJ.com gathered that while discussing at its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) second quarter 2017 meeting, the apex bank said the pace has exceeded the target for the 2017 fiscal year.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the Net Domestic Credit grew by 1.40% in April, 2017, annualized to 4.21%, which is significantly below the 17.93% provisional growth benchmark for 2017.
The communique further called for increased lending to the private sector by banks. CBN at the meeting retained all its key policy rates, citing challenges weighing down the domestic economy and uncertainties in the global environment.
In this NAIJ.com video below, traders lament bitterly over prices of goods, as they accuse President Muhammadu Buhari's administration of turning things upside down.
