The Federal Government said the nation’s non-oil exports doubled from about N1 trillion to N2 trillion between 2018 and 2019. Information and Culture Minister, Alhadji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this at a media briefing in Lagos on Monday where he presented the major achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for the outgoing year
Mohammed said while the value of crude oil exports decreased by 3.78%, non-crude oil exports rose by more than 30% in value between 2018 and 2019. The minister said the value of exports grew by 2.5% between 2018 and 2019 as at the third quarter; rose from N14 trillion to N14.4 trillion
“Strong performance in the external sector suggests increasing diversification of exports and export revenue. This resulted in a stronger overall performance and an increase in the value of total trade by 10% between 2018 and 2019,” he said.
The minister further noted that the value of imports in 2019, as at the third quarter stood at N11.6 trillion, compared to N9.6 trillion as at third quarter of 2018. “This represented an annual growth rate of 21% between 2018 and 2019. Other than refined petroleum products, major imports have been machinery and vehicles,” he said.
The minister said that the 2019 budget performance showed that while revenue shortfalls occurred in the first half of the year, capital expenditure was prioritized, leading to higher expenditure performance.
On government revenue, he disclosed that as at half year 2019, actual aggregate revenue stood at N2 trillion or 58% of pro-rated target.
“This comprised oil revenue of N900 billion (49% performance), Company Income Tax (CIT) of N349 billion (86% performance), Value-Added Tax (VAT) of N81 billion (71% performance), and Customs Collections of N184 billion (100.47% performance),’’ he said.
On government expenditure, Mohammed said that as at half year 2019, out of the total appropriation of N8.9 trillion for 2019, about N3.4 trillion had been spent, representing 76% performance for that period. He stressed that capital spending had been prioritized in favor of critical ongoing infrastructural projects in the power, roads, rail and agriculture sectors.
The minister said there was significant improvement on Capital importation comprising mainly foreign direct investment, portfolio investment and other investment flowing into the country. He said as at the third quarter of 2019, total capital importation had reached nearly 20 billion US dollars, which was 34% higher than the 15 billion US dollars recorded for the first three quarters of 2018.
Mohammed said while the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment declined over the period by 39% from one billion US dollars to 700 million US dollars, portfolio investment and other investments both rose significantly by 39% and 42% respectively.
He said apart from banking and shares, some of the major sectors that witnessed high volume of capital inflows in 2019 were telecommunications, production and services. The minister said nearly all of the total capital importation as at Quarter three in 2019 flowed to Lagos and Abuja. (NAN)
