By Abubakar Yunusa
Nigeria generated N1.49 trillion as the aggregate revenue from value-added tax (VAT) in the first half of 2023, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), released on Monday.
The figure represents a 25 percent increase compared to the N1.18 trillion recorded in the first half (H1) of 2022.
VAT, which is a consumption tax, is being administered by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
Revenue generated from VAT is usually disbursed to the three tiers of government through the federation accounts allocation committee (FAAC).
The NBS latest report said the VAT collection in Nigeria grew by 10.11 percent to N781.35 billion in Q2 of 2023, from N709.59 billion in Q1.
The shows that local payments recorded N948.13 billion. While foreign VAT payments contributed N293.76 billion, N249.06 billion came from import VAT in the first six months of the year.
In the period under review, according to NBS, the manufacturing sector recorded the highest revenue of N281.1 billion — a 25 percent growth when compared to the first six months (H1) of 2022.
The information and communication sector followed with N192.59 billion in revenue — a growth of 52 percent when compared to H1 of 2022.
Other sectors are; mining and quarrying (N107.19 billion), financial and insurance activities (N92.67 billion) and public administration and defence (N70.98 billion).
