FG spent N1.3 trillion on debt service for 2016

The Federal Government spent a total of N1,361.88 billion (one trillion, three hundred and sixty-one billion, eighty-eight million naira) on both domestic and external debt service in the 2016 fiscal year that ended in May 2017.

In the 2016 budget implementation report, Abuja also spent a total of ₦1,192 trillion (or 97.75%) of the total amount released and cash-backed was utilised by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as at May 5, 2017 on capital expenditure.

“Annual debt service was estimated at ₦1,361.88 billion in the 2016 Budget comprising of ₦1,307.40 billion for domestic debt servicing and ₦54.48 billion for the servicing of external debt.

“Actual domestic debt service in 2016 stood at ₦1,228.76 billion indicating a shortfall of ₦78.64 billion (or 6.01%).

“Total actual external debt service payment, on the other hand amounted to ₦107.69 billion indicating an increase of ₦53.21 billion (or 97.67%) above the budgeted estimate for the year.”

The budget allocated ₦1.587 trillion to capital spending as against ₦557.00 billion in 2015.

An analysis of the performance for MDAs as at May 5, when the budget wound down revealed that a total of ₦1,219.47 trillion was released and cash backed to MDAs for their 2016 capital projects and programmes.

A breakdown of the forty (40) MDAs reported upon by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) showed different levels of utilisation among the MDAs.

Some 24 of the MDAs including: Water Resources, Agriculture, Women Affairs, Youth Development, FCTA, Communication Technology, Interior, Mines & Steel, ONSA, FCSC, Federal Character Commission, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal had utilized more than the overall average utilization rate of 97.75% of the amount cash-backed. Five out of these, including ICPC, National Salary & Wages, ONSA, Code of Conduct Tribunal and Federal Character Commission had 100% of their respective cash-backed funds utilized.

The other 16 MDAs which included Presidency, OSGF, Defence, Education, Finance, Health, Trade & Investment, Information, Head of Service, Labour & Productivity, Transport, Petroleum, Budget & National Planning, ICRC, National Population Commission and Police Service Commission utilized below the average utilisation rate of 97.75% of their cash-backed funds.

On revenue profile, the report revealed that 2016 Fiscal Framework estimated a quarterly deficit of ₦551.19 billion to be financed through earnings from Privatisation Proceeds of ₦2.50 billion, FGN’s Share of Signature Bonus of ₦0.19 billion, Recovery of Misappropriated Funds of ₦87.58 billion, Foreign Borrowing of ₦158.97 billion, Domestic Borrowing (FGN Bond) of ₦295.70 billion and Sale of Government Properties of ₦6.25 billion.

“In the fourth quarter of 2016, none of the projected financing items (Earnings of Privatisation Proceeds, FGN’s Share of Signature Bonus, Recovery of Misappropriated Funds, Foreign Borrowing, Domestic Borrowing (FGN Bond) and Sale of Government Properties materialised.”

Overall, revenue inflow moderated to ₦2.95 trillion in 2016, indicating a shortfall in revenue of ₦290.00 billion or 8.95% from the ₦3.24 trillion performances in 2015.

Total actual expenditure in 2016 stood at ₦5.36 trillion, indicating an expenditure shortfall of ₦0.70 trillion or 11.57% of the budget estimate of ₦6.06 trillion for the period.

This comprises among others total of ₦2,411.63 billion out of the ₦2,646.39 billion projected for recurrent (non-debt) and ₦1,219.47 billion out of the ₦1,587.40 billion projected for capital budget implementation.

This translates to a deficit of ₦2.41 trillion or 45.00% of total expenditure.

This indicates that budget deficit was ₦21.10 billion or 9.55% higher than the budget estimate of ₦2.20 trillion for the review period and a budget deficit to GDP ratio of 2.37% in the review period, from 1.69% in 2015.

In the 2016 budget implementation report made available to Tribune Online also tracked 9,889 direct skilled and unskilled jobs through award contracts for infrastructure amenities in various parts of the country.

According to the report, as at May 5, 2017, only twenty-four (or 60%) of the MDAs including: Water Resources, Agriculture, Women Affairs, Youth Development, FCTA, Communication Technology, Interior, Mines & Steel, ONSA, FCSC, Federal Character Commission, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal had utilised more than the overall average utilisation rate of 97.75% of the amount cash-backed.

“Five out of these, including ICPC, National Salary & Wages, ONSA, Code of Conduct Tribunal and Federal Character Commission had 100% of their respective cash-backed funds utilized.

“The other remaining sixteen (16) MDAs had utilisation rates which are below the overall average utilisation rate of the total amount released and cash backed.

Gross oil revenue for the 2016 fiscal year stood at ₦3.04 trillion, reflecting a below budget estimates performance by ₦489.91 billion or 13.86% in 2016.

This shows an underperformance of ₦709.91 billion or 18.91% when compared with the oil revenue collection in 2015, translating to an oil to total revenue ratio of 52.74 percent, as against 61.46 percent in 2015.

A breakdown of oil revenue reveals that only Petroleum Profit & Gas Taxes of ₦857.54 billion and Other Oil & Gas Revenue of ₦5.95 billion exceeded their annual projections of ₦602.56 billion and ₦3.78 billion by ₦254.97 billion (or 42.31%) and ₦2.17 billion (or 57.32%) respectively as at end-December 2016.

Tribune.