ABUJA: Nigeria’s government revenues rose by 5.6 percent in December to 315.019 billion naira, from 297.450 billion naira the previous month despite a drop in oil prices and production hiccups, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.
Mahmoud Isah Dutse, permanent secretary at the ministry of finance, said “shut-ins, shut-down of production for repairs and production shortfall due to technical hitches at different terminals throughout the month” had a negative impact on crude oil and gas revenue. He said there was a revenue loss of $143.96 million because of a reduction in export sales and a drop in the average price of crude to $43.40 in November from $49.58 in October.
Nigeria would distribute 387.771 billion naira to its three tiers of government, federal, state and local, for the month of January, including revenues, cash from VAT, gains on the exchange rate and refunds from the state oil company of 6.330 billion naira, Dutse said.
He said that $150 million in dividends from the Nigeria Liquefied Gas Co had already been distributed in December. The Excess Crude Account, Nigeria’s rainy day fund, remained unchanged at $2.258 billion.
