By Babajide Komolafe
The Federal Government overspent by N299 billion in the third quarter of the year, says the Central Bank of Nigeria. On the other hand, the 36 states and 774 local governments received N688.07 billion as statutory allocation in the third quarter.

However, economic activity stagnated during the quarter as economic growth rate remained at 7.7 per cent.

“The fiscal operations of the Federal Government in the third quarter of 2010 resulted in a total notional deficit of N299.28 billion, compared with the budgeted deficit of N387.70 billion and a deficit of N150.39 billion in the preceding quarter of 2010”, the apex bank said in its economic report for the third quarter of the year.

The report indicated 17.5 per cent increase in total federally-collected revenue.

According to the CBN, “total federally-collected revenue in the third quarter of 2010 stood at N2,023.58 billion, representing an increase of 0.5, 17.5  per cent and 62.3 per cent above the proportionate budget estimate, the receipts in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2009, respectively.

“At N1,502.04 billion, oil receipts, which constituted 74.2 per cent of the total, was higher than the proportionate budget estimate by 2.7 per cent. It also rose by 16.6 per cent and 109.5 per cent, above the receipts in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2009, respectively.”

States, LGs get N688bn

The CBN also revealed  that the  36 states and 774 local governments received N688.07 billion as statutory allocation in the third quarter.

“Total receipts, including the 13.0 per cent Derivation Fund and share of VAT by the state governments from the Federation Account stood at N437.71 billion during the review quarter.

This represented an increase of 5.7 and 25.5 per cent over the  levels in the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2009, respectively.

Economic growth stagnant at 7.7%

Despite the quantum of spending by the three tiers of government, economic activities stagnated during the quarter.  “Provisional data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, showed that estimated Gross Domestic Product, GDP, remained at the preceding quarter’s level of 7.7 per cent. The development was driven mainly by the non-oil sector which contributed 84.8 per cent of the total GDP.”