The Federal Government has said that it spent N2.89tn on debt servicing between January and August.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this during the public presentation and breakdown of the highlights of the 2022 appropriation bill held in Abuja on Friday.

According to Minister, in the first seven months of the year, total expenditure made by the government stood at N8.14tn out of which N2.88tn was utilised for debt servicing, N2.75tn was spent on overhead cost, while N1.75tn was expended on capital projects.

On revenue, she said that the government generated a total of N3.9tn comprising, Company income tax of N547.5bn; Value added Tax collections of N235.7bn, customs collections of N338.6bn and other revenues which amounted to N1.7tn.

With a debt servicing cost of N2.89tn and total revenue of N3.9tn, the federal government spent about N74 per cent of its revenue on debt servicing within the review period.

Zainab said, “For the 2021 performance, between January and August, revenue generated was N3.93tn which was 73 per cent of the prorated target. Out of this amount, CIT and VAT collections were N547.5bn and N235.7bn respectively representing 121 percent in the case of CIT and 148 per cent in the case of VAT of the prorated target.

“Custom collections 338.6bn represents 99 per cent of prorated target. Other revenues amounting to N1.7tn of which the federal government independent revenue of N691.36bn while GEOs revenue was N873.5bn.