The Federal Government made a total of N3.25tn in 2020, according to a review of the budget performance of the 2020 Appropriation Act.
The review also showed that the Federal Government spent a total of N2.34tn on debt servicing within the year.
This means that 72 per cent of the government’s revenue was spent of debt servicing. It also puts the government’s debt servicing to revenue ratio at 72 per cent.
In 2019, The Federal Government made a total revenue of N3.86tn. Within the year, debt servicing gulped N2.11tn. This puts the Federal Government’s debt servicing to revenue ratio in 2019 at 54.66 per cent.
This means that between 2019 and 2020, the Federal Government’s debt servicing to revenue ratio jumped from 54.66 per cent to 72 per cent.
As of March 31, the Debt Management Office put Nigeria’s total debt at N33.11tn. Out of this figure, N20.64tn (62.33 per cent) was owed to domestic creditors while N12.47tn (37.67 per cent) was owed to foreign creditors.
Of the domestic debt profile, N16.51tn belong to the Federal Government while N4.12tn belong to the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
The N12.47tn foreign debt was not broken into federal and subnational segments. However, historically, about 86 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign debt usually belong to the Federal Government.
Although the Federal Government consistently argues that its debt to Gross Domestic Product is low, economists and experts say that it is better to use the debt servicing to revenue ratio to measure a country’s indebtedness.
This is because the debt servicing to revenue ratio measures a country’s capacity to repay its loans.
Although the Federal Government had projected a revenue of N5.84tn for 2020, actual revenue was N3.25tn. It also projected to spend N2.68tn on debt servicing.
As in the years before, a greater percentage of the country’s revenues came from oil in 2020. Oil revenue contributed N1.41tn, non-oil sources contributed N1.26tn, while independent funding sources contributed N578.45bn.
In 2020, the Federal Government spent N3.17tn on personnel and overhead costs, two segments of the nation’s recurrent expenditure.
The government spent N1.57tn on capital expenditure. Total expenditure for the year was N9.75tn, with the nation borrowing a total of N2.06tn as domestic borrowing in the year.
In 2019, Nigeria made N3.86tn as revenue. Oil revenue contributed N1.620tn; non-oil revenue contributed N1.69tn, while independent funding contributed N547.270bn.
The Federal Government spent N2.37tn on overhead and personnel cost within the year and N1.17tn on capital expenditure. Total debt servicing gulped N2.11tn of government revenue. Total expenditure for the year was N8.29tn, and total borrowing was N912.82bn.
In 2018, the Federal Government generated N3.48tn as revenue. Revenue from oil contributed N1.96tn; non-oil contributed N1.12tn, and independent funding was N395.2bn.
Overhead and personnel cost gulped N2.05tn, while N736.51bn was spent capital projects. Total debt servicing gulped N2.09tn of government revenue. This put debt servicing to revenue ratio at 60.06 per cent. Expenditure for the year totalled N6.27tn, and total borrowing for the year was N1.74tn.
According to the budget office, in 2020, the Federal Government continued to meet its non-discretionary expenditures even as budget implementation continued to be affected by poor revenue outcomes.
The office said that the performance of the economy during the fourth quarter of 2020 was encouraging, considering developments in the global economy and the performance of other economies.
However, it said, it was important to accelerate efforts towards improving the growth record and revenue performance.
The office added that enhancing revenue collection in 2021 was key to the successful implementation of the 2021 budget.
In its fourth quarter 2020 budget implementation document, the office said, “Efforts to moderate the growth in recurrent expenditure and particularly personnel and recurrent debt in 2021 is critical even as effective implementation of the COVID-19 containment measure continues to be paramount.
“The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to improved openness, transparency and accountability in budget preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and feedback.
“In view of this, strict adherence to budget implementation guidelines and the governance framework on monitoring of capital budget implementation will continue to be followed.
“Efforts would also be geared towards fostering efficiency in budget implementation, while ensuring effective project management in 2021.” – Punch.
