Budget deficit has risen to N20.64tn under the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), according to analysed data from the budget office. The data covered periods from 2016 to 2020. According to the budget office, more than N7.97tn was borrowed from foreign and domestic sources to fund these deficits.
According to Investopedia, a budget deficit occurs when expenses exceed revenue and indicate the financial health of a country. The budget office said the Federal Government generated a revenue of N3.42tn to fund the budget in 2020. It said total government spending for the year was N10.02tn, 0.43 per cent above the N9.97tn budgeted.
Hence, the budget deficit for the year was N6.59tn (14.17 per cent of the 2020 GDP), and this was partly-financed through domestic borrowing of N2.06tn. In 2019, the Federal Government generated a total of N4.12tn to fund the budget.
For the year, total expenditure was N8.29tn, a decrease of N618.14bn (6.93 per cent) from the annual projection. Budget deficit stood at N4.18tn (2.9 per cent of 2019’s GDP), and was partly-financed through domestic borrowing of N912.82bn. In 2018, a total of N3.48tn, excluding other funding sources, was generated in revenue to fund the year’s budget. [Punch]
