The Debt Management Office, in a tweet on Tuesday, stressed the need for Nigeria to boost revenue and manage spending like Indonesia, which is also an oil-producing country.
The tweet read, “Indonesia, a fellow oil-producing country with a population size of 273 million people, is a prime example of how increased revenues and prudent spending can lower budget deficits and borrowings.”
Past reports have shown that Nigeria suffers declining revenue despite a widening budget deficit.
While Indonesia targets a budget surplus, Nigeria has consistently maintained a wide budget deficit.
The PUNCH recently reported that the total budget deficit under the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, was set to hit N47.43tn, according to an analysis of the Federal Government’s data from the Budget Office of the Federation.
The budget data analysed by The PUNCH cover the actual budget deficits and projections for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 fiscal years.
According to data, deficit financing has risen by 370.54 per cent from N2.41tn in 2016 to N11.34tn in 2023.
The PUNCH also reported in January this year that the Federal Government recorded a revenue shortfall of N14.28tn under the administration of the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, according to data from the Budget Office of the Federation.
The data was obtained from the budget implementation reports for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 (January to November).
In the period under review, the Federal Government projected N43.05tn as revenue to fund its budget but made only N28.77tn (66.83 per cent of expected revenue).
