Revenue: Customs records N52.5bn deficit in 2016 H1

The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has recorded a deficit of N52.5bn between January to June 2016. The service collected N385.2bn in the first six months of 2016 against the N438.2bn it collected in the corresponding period of 2015.

This was disclosed in an interview granted to journalists by the NCS Public Relations Officer, Wale Adeniyi on Monday.

According to him, “the service generated N197.7 billion from import duties in cash and generated N203 million from import duty in non-cash receipts as Negotiable Duty Credit Certificate (NDCC).”

He explained that N21.876 billion was generated from excise duty; N910. 995 million from fees; N41. 418 billion from federation account levies and N49. 357 billion from non-federation accounts levies.

Adeniyi added that the service generated N74. 282 billion from Value Added Tax (VAT) during the period. He also statd that the decrease of N525.5 million in the revenue generated was due to economic recession.

“Access to foreign exchange and the drastic fall in the value of naira have also affected the service’s revenue generation,” Adeniyi stated.

The NCS said the removal of the 41 items from the CBN foreign exchange window affected the revenue generation by the service.

“However, there are positive indications that the economy may bounce back in the last quarter of the year.

“We are working with Western neighbour of Benin Republic to strengthen our transit trade, particularly with vehicles.

“So, we expect that this will have a positive effect on our service revenue generation in the last quarter,’’ he concluded.