Daily Watch – Half of #Budget2017 remains unfunded, MSCI retains Nigeria in frontier index

30th October 2017

  • The FG recorded a 49 percent shortfall in non-oil revenue needed to finance the 2017 budget, according to new figures obtained from the Budget Office of the Federation and contained in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework prepared by the Budget and National Planning ministry, and approved by the FEC. The document showed that both oil and non-oil revenue performed below their target within the first six months of this year. About ₦2.43 trillion out of the total projected H1 revenue of ₦2.54 trillion was realised. From the realised revenue, it added that oil revenue was ₦960.87 billion against the target of ₦1.06 trillion, a shortfall of nine percent. Customs revenue was the best performing non-oil revenue category with ₦132.97 billion. The projected revenue for the 2017 fiscal year based on the parameters adopted in the 2017-2019 MTEF is ₦5.08 trillion.
  • New NBS data shows that ₦637.70 billion was disbursed by the FAAC in September, according to its disbursement report was released on Friday. “The federation account allocation committee disbursed the sum of ₦637.70 billion to the three tiers of government in September 2017 from the revenue generated in August 2017,” the report read. “The amount disbursed comprised of ₦550.99 billion from the statutory account and ₦86.71 billion from valued added tax. No allocation was refunded to the federal government from the NNPC and no amount was also shared from the excess petroleum product tax account. The FG received a total of ₦273.09 billion, states received a total of ₦173.81 billion and local governments received ₦131.04 billion. The sum of ₦41.97 billion was shared among the oil producing states as the 13 percent derivation fund. Revenue generating agencies such as the Nigeria Customs Service, the FIRS and the DPR received ₦4.59 billion, ₦9.60 billion and ₦1.58 billion respectively as the cost of revenue collections.
  • The MSCI has announced its decision to retain the MSCI Nigeria Indices in its MSCI Frontier Markets Indices. The market will be removed from the review list for potential reclassification to ‘standalone’ status. In a notice on Friday, the MSCI said it would also no longer apply the special treatment for the MSCI Nigeria Indices which was announced on April 29, 2016. These changes will be made for securities classified in Nigeria in the MSCI Nigeria indices and in indices which Nigeria is a component of. The MSCI Nigeria Indices were added to the review list for potential reclassification to standalone status in September 2016 due to challenges in the foreign exchange market leading to impairment in the ability of institutional investors to repatriate capital. Its latest decision was informed by the Investors and Exporters window launched by the CBN in June. The MSCI recently increased the weighting assigned to Nigerian stocks to 7.9 percent from 6.5 percent previously in its frontier markets’ basket of equities.
  • Fitch has affirmed Kaduna’s Long-Term Foreign and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings at ‘B’ and a national Long-Term Rating at ‘A+(nga)’ with a stable outlook. The affirmation reflects the rating firm’s expectation of an improved revenue mix for the state driven by declining statutory allocations but offset by improving local tax revenues and fees. The ratings also factor in the state’s growing debt although Fitch says servicing requirements will be moderated by government subsidies, concessionary terms and a long grace period in addition to the state’s developing economy focused on agricultural and service activities and low per capita revenue by international standards.
  • KPMG Professional Services and DevPar Financial Consulting won the financial bidding of $1.3 million to retool the Bank of Agriculture. The companies emerged winners of the capacity building and institutional strengthening project of African Development Bank after scoring 84.5 and 76.63 points respectively in accordance with the financial guidelines of the AfDB. According to the AfDB’s managing director, Alhaji Kabir Adamu, the project is one in which the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Bank of Agriculture had received financing from the AfDB towards the cost of the BOA Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building Project.