The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Tuesday, July 19, disclosed that Nigeria’s oil revenue plunged by 18.01 per cent to N186.7 billion in April 2016.
The apex bank, in its Economic Report for April 2016, released yesterday, stated that oil revenue accounted for 47.71 per cent of the gross Federally-collected revenue of N391.3 billion in the month under review, while non-oil revenue, at N204.7 billion, accounted for 52.31 per cent of the gross Federally-collected revenue for the month.
The CBN disclosed that gross oil receipts fell short of the preceding month’s level of N227.69 billion by 18 per cent, blaming the decline in oil revenue on the fall in receipts from crude oil and gas exports owing to shut-downs and shut-ins in production arising from repair works at some NNPC terminals and pipeline vandalism as well as the persistent low crude oil prices.
Also, at N391.33 billion, the CBN noted that estimated gross federally-collected revenue in April 2016 fell short of the provisional 2015 monthly budget estimate of N814.87 billion by 52.0 per cent, while it was also lower than the receipt of the preceding month by 7.1 per cent.
According to the CBN, the development relative to the provisional monthly budget estimate was attributed to the decline in oil revenue.
Furthermore, the CBN disclosed that Nigeria’s crude oil production dipped by 4.6 per cent from an average of 1.76 million barrels per day or 54.56 million barrels in the month March 2016, to an average of 1.68 million barrels per day or 50.40 million barrels in April.
In addition, the CBN stated that crude oil export stood at 1.23 million barrels per day or 36.90 million barrels in April, representing a decline of 6.1 per cent when compared with crude oil export of 1.31 million barrels per day or 40.61 million barrels recorded in the preceding month.
