Nigeria’s ederal Government has incurred a deficit spending of N36.8 trillion in eight years under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari from 2015 to 2022.
An analysis of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data on Federal Government finances from 2015 to 2022 done by Vanguard revealed that 77 per cent of the deficit spending occurred in the last four years, from 2019 to 2022.
The data revealed that total revenue for the eight years stood at N32.05 trillion, while total expenditure during the period stood at N68.8 trillion, indicating deficit spending of N36.8 trillion.
In the first four years, 2015 to 2018, the government recorded N13.9 trillion as revenue but spent N24.3 trillion, resulting in deficit spending of N10.4 trillion.
However, the deficit spending jumped by 60 per cent in the last four years, 2019 to 2022.
Compared to the previous four years, revenue rose by 31 percent to N18.2 trillion, while expenditure rose by 83 percent to N44.5trillion. Consequently, deficit spending rose to N26.4 trillion, translating to 60 percent increase when compared with the previous four years.
Further analysis showed that over 22 per cent of the eight year deficit spending was incurred in 2022 alone.
During the year, the Federal Government’s revenue grew by 14.7 per cent to N5.05 trillion from N4.4 trillion in 2021, while expenditure stood at N13.4 trillion in 2022, up by 14.5 percent from N11.7 trillion in 2021.
As a result, the government incurred N8.3 trillion as deficit spending, representing a 13.6 per cent increase from N7.3 trillion in 2021.
According to Vanguard, a major factor behind the spike in deficit spending is the steady and sharp increase in fuel subsidy spending which stood at N9.34 trillion in the eight years from 2015 to 2022.
The analysis revealed that annual fuel subsidy spending shot up by 571 per cent to N4.39 trillion in 2022 from N654 billion in 2015.
Given that the N36.8 trillion deficit incurred in the eight year period was financed by borrowing, total debt stock, according to data from the Debt Management Office, DMO, rose sharply by 267 per cent or N33.65 trillion to N46.25 trillion in 2022 from N12.6 trillion in 2015. This excludes the N23 trillion borrowed from CBN as Ways and Means.