The federal government recorded a budget deficit of N601.56 billion in the last quarter 2013, according the fourth quarter report of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
According to the apex bank, the federal government retained revenue for the last three months of 2013 was N822.19 billion, while total expenditure was N1.423.75trillion.
“Federal Government retained revenue was N822.19 billion, while total expenditure was N1.42375 trillion. Thus, the fiscal operations of the Federal Government resulted in an estimated deficit of N601.56 billion or 5.1 per cent of estimated nominal GDP for fourth quarter 2013, compared with the quarterly budget deficit of N221.77 billion or 1.9 per cent of estimated GDP”, it said.
Low oil output
The dismal revenue profile of the federal government in the last quarter of 2013 was blamed on the unprecedented level of low crude oil output which was put at a mere 1.42 million bpd as against the 2013 budget oil production estimate of 2.526 million bpd.
“Nigeria’s crude oil production, including condensates and natural gas liquids, was estimated at an average of 1.87million barrels per day (mbd) or 172.04 million barrels for the quarter. Crude oil export stood at 1.42 mbd or 130.64 million barrels for the quarter, while deliveries to the refineries for domestic consumption remained at 0.45 mbd or 41.40 million barrels”, the bank said.
Non-oil receipts were also below the budget estimate and receipts in the preceding quarter by 26.4 and 41.0 per cent, respectively. Available data indicated that banks’ deposit and lending rates generally trended upward in the fourth quarter of 2013.
The report said that the spread between the weighted average term deposit and maximum lending rates widened by 0.34 percentage point during the review quarter.
Similarly, the margin between the average savings deposit and the maximum lending rates widened by 0.68 percentage point
.The CBN said that the weighted average inter-bank call rate fell by 3.23 percentage points to 11.02 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2013, reflecting the liquidity condition in the inter-bank funds market On total banks’ assets, it said “provisional data indicated that the value of money market assets outstanding at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013 increased by 4.1per cent to N6.8415 trillion, compared with the increase of 5.7 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter. “The development was attributed to the 4.7 and 3.9 per cent increase in FGN Bonds and NTBs outstanding, respectively”.
Net $1.4 b forex outflow
Foreign exchange inflow and outflow through the CBN amounted to US$9.13 billion and US$10.48 billion, respectively, resulting in a net outflow of US$1.35 billion during the review quarter.
“Foreign exchange sales by the CBN to the authorized dealers amounted to US$9.10 billion, compared with US$10.97 billion in the preceding quarter. The average exchange rate of the Naira vis-à-vis the US dollar at the rDAS window was N157.32 per US dollar, indicating a marginal depreciation from its levels in the preceding and the corresponding period of 2012, respectively”, the bank added.
Relying on available data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the bank said that Gross Domestic Product, GDP, was estimated to have grown by 7.7per cent in the fourth quarter of 2013 , compared with 6.8per cent in the preceding quarter.
It said that the development was driven, largely, by the growth in the non-oil sector.
Broad money supply, M2, grew by 9.1 per cent at the end of the quarter under review, in contrast to the 7.9 per cent decline recorded at the end of the preceding quarter.
“The development reflected, largely the 14.9 per cent increase in domestic credit (net) of the banking system. Similarly, narrow money supply, (M1), rose by 11.4per cent, in contrast to the 9.3per cent decline at the end of the preceding quarter. Over the level at end-December 2012, broad money supply (M2) grew by 1.2 per cent, owing largely to the 18.5 per cent increase in net domestic credit, which more than offset the 26.0 and 5.9 per cent decline in other assets (net) and foreign assets (net) of the banking system, respectively”, the bank said.
