Ike Amos
Dublin, Ireland — Nigeria earned N423.17 billion from the oil and gas sector in August 2021, rising by 2.69 per cent compared with oil revenue of N412.1 billion recorded in July, according to latest data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The CBN, in its Monthly Economic Report for August 2021, noted that oil revenue for August was 83.6 per cent of the budgeted figure of N505.93 billion, and also accounted for 46.82 per cent of total gross federation revenue in the month under review.
Oil earnings for the review period was also 5.27 per cent higher than the N401.98 billion recorded in August 2020.
Giving a breakdown of oil and gas earnings for the period, the CBN reported that same as in the previous month, the federation account recorded zero earnings from oil and gas exports, mainly as a result of fuel subsidy payments, while the country earned N318.57 billion from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT)/Royalties, compared with N351.13 billion and N296.17 billion recorded in July 2021 and August 2020, respectively.
In addition, domestic crude oil and gas sales rose by 73.35 per cent to N91.25 billion, compared with N52.64 billion recorded in the previous; as well as 30.08 per cent higher than domestic crude oil and gas earnings of N70.15 billion recorded in August 2020.
The CBN added that ‘other oil earnings’, comprising Education Tax, Customs Special Levies (Federation Account), National Technology Development, Customs Special Levies, Solid Mineral & Other Mining revenue, and other Non-regular earnings, rose by 60.26 per cent to N13.35 billion, compared with N8.33 billion recorded in July 2021.
Providing a broader explanation of Federation Account operations, the CBN said: “Despite the sustained rise in the contribution of oil to total federation receipts in August, the Federation Account receipts was subdued by poor non-oil revenue outcome following declines in Corporate Income Tax and non-tax revenue of the FGN.
“At N903.63 billion, accrued federation revenue was 17.1 per cent and 11.8 per cent below earnings in July and the budget benchmark, respectively. Movements in the Federation Account were dictated, largely, by shortfalls in non-oil revenue.
“Regardless, non-oil receipts out-performed oil receipts, contributing 53.2 per cent to the gross federally collected revenue. The outcome of non-oil receipts relative to oil revenue indicates that the initiatives to diversify the revenue base of the government is effective.”
The CBN further noted that the amount spent on the importation of petroleum products increased by 19.2 per cent to $0.92 billion, as against $0.77 billion in July, adding that the dominance of non-oil import was evident in the review period, as it accounted for 81.8 per cent of total import bills, while oil import constituted the balance of 18.2 per cent.
