Notwithstanding the challenges militating against the planned massive production in agriculture the sector still gave the country a handsome earning during the second quarter of this year. This is contained in the report on the performance of the economy in the second quarter by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. The agency said the agriculture sector led the growth in Company Income Tax, CIT, in Nigeria during the second quarter of 2024, recording a 474.50 per cent increase on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The report, which was released on Monday, stated that on the aggregate, the CIT for Q2 2024 stood at N2.47tn, marking a 150.83 per cent growth from N984.61bn in Q1 2024.
Local payments contributed N1.35tn, while foreign CIT payments accounted for N1.12tn during the period under review. The report states thus, “Agriculture, forestry, and fishing recorded the highest growth rate at 474.50 per cent, showcasing the sector’s increasing contribution to the national economy.” The National Bureau of Statistics concluded that the federal government’s aggregate receipt from Value Added Tax and Companies Income Tax stood at N4.03tn in the second quarter of 2024.
It said from this amount, VAT revenue stood at N1.56tn while Companies Income Tax was N2.47tn.
The VAT figure indicates a growth rate of 9.11 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis from the N1.43tn recorded in Q1 2024. On a year-on-year basis, VAT collections in Q2 2024 surged by 99.82 per cent from Q2 in 2023. The statistics hub said the Manufacturing, Information and Communication recorded an 11.78 and 9.02 per cent contribution to the aggregate VAT collection and as such topped the list of contributors.
It added that mining and quarrying contributed 8.79 per cent during the period under review.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, human health and social work activities recorded the highest growth rate with 98.44 per cent, followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing with 70.26 per cent, and water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities with 59.75 per cent.
Recall that the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, had debunked claims suggesting plans to hike the current VAT rate from 7.5 per cent to 10per cent.
