Nigeria earned N1.02tn from the sale of crude oil in the first three months of the year, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.

The oil receipts constituted 83.2 per cent of the total money earned at the period, which the apex bank put at N1.22tn.
The earning from oil showed an increase of 7.1 per cent over the budget estimate but was lower than what the country earned in the preceding quarter by 20.5 per cent.

Also, there was a general increase in banks’ deposit and lending rates in the quarter, despite recent downward of monetary policy rate from 10 per cent to eight per cent.
The report stated, “The average savings rate increased by 0.47 percentage points to 3.2 per cent, while other rates on deposits of various maturities increased from a range of 5.11-10.25 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 5.4-10.28 per cent.
“Similarly, the average maximum and prime lending rates increased by 0.05 and 0.22 percentage points to 18.75 and 17.18 per cent respectively.”

CBN, in its report for first quarter 2007 released on Sunday, attributed the dip in the nation’s oil income to the continued crisis in the oil-rich Niger Delta Region where militancy has affected economic activities, especially oil and gas production.
The decrease in the earnings from crude oil has caused the Federal Government and the other tiers of government to be relying on excess crude oil account to make up for the shortfall in their revenues.
Expectedly, the volume of crude oil produced at the same period showed a decline when compared to what the nation produced in the preceding period, September – December 2006.

The report said, “Nigeria’s crude oil production, including condensates and natural gas liquids, was estimated at 2.15 million barrels per day compared with 2.34 mbd and 2.24 mbd in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2006, respectively.
“Crude oil export was estimated at 1.7 mbd or 153.0 million barrels for the quarter, while deliveries to the refineries for domestic consumption remained at 0.45 mbd or 40.5 million barrels for the quarter.
“The fall in oil receipts below the level in the preceding quarter, reflected the decline in the volume of oil production, arising from the continued restiveness in the Niger Delta area.”
On the other hand, non-oil receipts, at N206.0bn or 16.8 per cent of the total revenue was higher than the receipts in the preceding quarter by 1.7 per cent but lower than its budget estimates by 26.7 per cent.
CBN attributed the rise in non-oil receipts relative to the preceding quarter to the improved performance in revenue collection from custom and excise duties during the period.
It also put Federal Government’s retained revenue for the first quarter of 2007 at N487.6bn, while total expenditure was N499.6bn.

Thus, the fiscal operations of the Federal Government was estimated to have resulted in a deficit of N12.1bn, compared with a deficit of N121.7bn in the preceding quarter and a surplus of N40.7bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2006.

In the industrial sector, activities declined during the first quarter of 2007 as the estimated index of industrial production fell by 0.4 per cent from its level in the preceding quarter. It, however, rose by 2.2 per cent over the level in the corresponding period of 2006.

On other economic indices, CBN said, “The end-period inflation rate for the first quarter of 2007, on a year-on-year basis, was 5.2 per cent, compared with 8.5 and 12.0 per cent recorded at the end of the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2006, respectively.

Source: Punch