The Economic Report for the Second Quarter of 2016 just released by theCentral Bank of Nigeria, CBN has shown that currency-in-circulation fell to N1.685 trillion.
The apex bank noted that there was a seven per cent fall in currency-in-circulation to N1.685 trillion during the second quarter. a period from April to June. This was blamed on the decline in vault cash as the preceding quarter showed only 2.5 per cent slide.
“Banking system’s credit to the private sector, quarter-on-quarter, grew by 13.5 per cent to N21.425 trillion, compared with the growth of 0.9 per cent and 1.3 per cent at the end of June 2016 and at the end of the corresponding period of 2015 respectively,” the report states.
The development was due to the growth in claims on the core private sector. Over the level at the end of December 2015, banking system’s credit to the private sector grew by 14.5 per cent, compared with the growth of 0.9 per cent and 4.3 per cent recorded at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2015, respectively.
“Banks’ credit to the domestic economy, rose by 11.2 per cent to N20.406.4 trillion, compared with 0.9 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter. “
Another highlight of the report is the rise in budget deficit. The CBN states that retained revenue by the Federal Government was N677.88 billion, while total expenditure stood at N1.769 trillion, resulting in an estimated deficit of N1.091trillion. This was close to 100 per cent jump on the quarterly budget deficit of N555.49 billion.
As for the revenue profile of the government during the period, it was adjudged to be about N1.16trillion, which was 51.3 per cent and 8.6 per cent lower than the quarterly budget estimate and the preceding quarter’s receipts, respectively.
“At N537.19 billion or 46.3 per cent of the total, gross oil receipt was lower than both the provisional quarterly budget and the receipts in the preceding quarter.
The development was attributed to the continued fall in receipts from crude oil/gas exports arising from persistent low price of crude oil and incidences of shut-ins and shut-downs at some NNPC terminals, owing to pipeline vandalism. Non-oil receipts, at N621.86 billion or 53.7 per cent of the total, was above the level in the preceding quarter by 3.2 per cent, but was significantly lower than the proportionate quarterly budget,” the report adds.
The apex bank explains that the Federal Government expenditure for the second quarter was above the provisional quarterly budget estimate and the level at the end of the preceding quarter by 12.8 and 58.1 per cent, respectively.
