Ike Amos
25 July 2016, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Nigeria’s economic woes worsened further, as the country’s earnings from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and Royalties dipped by N114.5 billion in the first four months of 2016 to N397.6 billion.
Particularly, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in its Economic Report for April 2016, stated that earnings from PPT/Royalties depreciated by 22.36 per cent from N512.1 billion recorded in the last four months of 2015, September to December 2015, to N397.6 billion recorded between January and April 2016.
A breakdown of the data showed that for the months of January, February, March and April, the country recorded PPT/Royalties of N128 billion, N86.6 billion, N99.4 and N83.6 billion respectively, compared to N146 billion, N145.8 billion, N82.1 billion and N138.2 billion recorded in September, October, November and December respectively.
In addition to a decline in earnings from PPT/Royalties, the country’s earnings from crude oil/gas sales also dipped by N146.2 billion from N255.7 billion recorded between September and December 2015 to N109.5 billion between January and April 2016, while other earnings from the oil sector dipped slightly by N1.1 billion to N27.7 billion in the first four months of the year, from N28.8 billion recorded in the last four months of 2015.
However, earnings from domestic crude oil/gas sales stood at N318.2 billion in the first four months of the year, up by N18.9 billion from N299.3 billion recorded in the last four months of 2015.
As a result, Nigeria’s oil earnings depreciated by N243.1 billion or 22.18 per cent to N852.9 billion for the first four months of 2016, compared to N1.096 trillion recorded in the last four months of 2015.
A breakdown of the country’s oil earnings showed that for January, February, March and April, the country recorded oil revenue of N258.5 billion, N180 billion, N227.7 billion and N186.7 billion respectively, compared to N265.2 billion, N271.1, N278.3 billion and N281.4 billion recorded in September, October, November, and December respectively.
Giving an analysis of Federation Account operations for the month of April, the CBN stated that at N391.33 billion, estimated federally-collected revenue (gross) in April 2016, fell short of the provisional 2015 monthly budget estimate of N814.87 billion by 52.0 percent, adding that it was also lower than the receipt of the preceding month by 7.1 per cent.
According to the CBN, the development relative to the provisional monthly budget estimate was attributed to the decline in oil revenue.
The CBN explained that at N186.65 billion or 47.7 per cent of the total revenue, gross oil receipts fell short of the preceding month’s level of N227.69 billion by 18.0 per cent.
The CBN blamed the decline in oil revenue on the fall in receipts from crude oil and gas exports owing to shut-downs and shut-ins in production arising from repair works at some NNPC terminals and pipeline vandalism as well as the persistent low crude oil prices
