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Nigeria's revenues in February fall to $1.73B

folarin okunola

March 23, 2016 8:00 PM

Nigeria's government revenues fell in February to 345.095 billion naira ($1.73 billion), down from 370.388 billion naira ($1.86 billion) in January, due to a drop in oil prices, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.

President Muhammadu Buhari meets with some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday, March 22, 2016.

"There was revenue loss of $45.9 million as a result of a drop in average prices of crude oil from $39.04 in December 2015 to $29.02 in January 2016," the ministry said in a statement.

"Also a substantial drop in income was recorded from oil and gas royalty, companies' income tax and import duty," it said.

The revenue includes VAT, refunds from state oil firm NNPC and exchange gains, the statement said. It will be distributed to the federal, state and local authorities.

Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer and biggest economy, relies on crude sales for about 70 percent of its government revenues.

Global crude prices have fallen sharply since mid-2014, hurting the country's public funds and leaving many states unable to pay public salaries in time or fund infrastructure projects and other state services.

folarin okunola

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