Forex Gain Adds N1.37tn To Government Revenue – FAAC

The unification of the country’s exchange rate significantly increased revenue from foreign exchange difference to N1.36tn in six months.

This is according to the data obtained from communiques of the Federation Account Allocation Committee.

The extra-ordinary profits is against the backdrop of foreign exchange revaluation gains arising from depreciation of the naira which currently sells at N825/$, compared to its 2022 closing rate of N461.50/$1.

According to the communique, the difference increased from N0.639bn in June to N364.87bn in November.

Also, the government shared N320.89bn in July, N229.67bn in August, N186.81bn in September and N262.89 in the month of October.

Providing a breakdown on how the accrued revenue was shared among the three tiers of government, an analysis of the document revealed that after the federation account gained N625.77bn from exchange difference revenue, state governments shared N317.36bn, while the local government got N244.66bn in six months.

Before an amount is shared between the three tiers of government, there are usually statutory deductions, such as 13 per cent derivation and other charges and costs.

After the deductions, the Federal Government gets 52.68 per cent, State Governments gets 26.72 per cent, and Local Governments gets 20.60 per cent based on the current vertical allocation formula on the net federation account revenue distributable.

However, out of the 52.68 per cent of the Federal Government’s share, general ecological problems get one per cent, Federal Capital Territory gets one per cent, development of natural resources gets 1.68 per cent, and statutory stabilisation gets 0.5 per cent. The balance of 48.5 per cent is for the Federal Government.

Recently, it was reported that no fewer than 13 state governments recorded significant foreign exchange revaluation profits worth N71.59bn in three months.

This was disclosed through data obtained from the third quarter budget implementation report (July to September) on each state’s website.

Among the 13 States, Akwa- Ibom had the highest earning at (N10.2bn), followed by Jigawa (N7.23bn), Imo (N6.26bn).

It was followed by Kogi (N5.92bn), Nasarrawa (N5.75bn), Plateau (N5.65bn), Abia (N5.34bn), Adamawa (5.34bn) Enugu (N5.1bn) and Zamfara (N5.02bn).

It was also observed that Bauchi got the lowest profit of N120m, while Ebonyi received N4.79bn, Osun got N4.89bn

Olusola Akintonde/Punch news