The Federal Government exceeded its 2024 borrowing target by N4.79 trillion because a larger-than-expected budget deficit forced officials to secure far more funding than planned, according to the Federation’s Budget Office.
The latest Fourth Quarter and Consolidated Budget Implementation Report for 2024 reveals that the Federal Government increased new borrowings to N12.62 trillion, surpassing the projected N7.83 trillion by N4.79 trillion, or 61.2 percent.
The increased borrowing requirement followed a significant revenue shortfall, pushing the fiscal imbalance to N13.51 trillion, well beyond the approved deficit of N9.18 trillion.
The report also revealed that aggregate Federal Government revenue stood at N20.98tn, compared with the budget estimate of N25.88tn, representing a shortfall of N4.90tn.
Total expenditure reached ₦34.49 trillion, just ₦561.29 billion below the approved budget of ₦35.06 trillion, indicating that the wider fiscal deficit resulted primarily from lower-than-expected revenue rather than increased government spending.
The report read, “The revenue and expenditure outturn of the Federal Government resulted in a fiscal deficit of N13.51tn in the 2024 fiscal year. This was N4.34tn (47.33 per cent) above the projected budget deficit estimate for the year.”
The report also said the fiscal deficit rose to ₦14.65 trillion, surpassing the ₦10.55 trillion recorded in 2023 and highlighting growing pressure on the country’s public finances.
An analysis of the government’s financial profile showed that domestic borrowing remained on target at ₦6.06 trillion. However, higher foreign borrowing and increased budget support drove total borrowing upward.
Foreign borrowing climbed from the budgeted ₦1.77 trillion to ₦3.37 trillion, exceeding the target by ₦1.60 trillion.
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New borrowings financed about 36 per cent of the Federal Government’s 2024 budget
In addition, the Federal Government received ₦3.19 trillion in budget support even though the 2024 budget made no provision for such financing. The government classified the funds as fresh borrowing but did not disclose their source.
Combined with domestic and foreign borrowing, the budget support pushed total fresh borrowings to ₦12.62 trillion, exceeding the approved borrowing plan by ₦4.79 trillion.
According to the Budget Office study, additional borrowings covered around 36% of the Federal Government’s 2024 budget, showing the country’s persistent reliance on debt to support public spending.
Separate from fresh borrowings, the report revealed that multilateral and bilateral project-tied loans totalled N1.98 trillion, compared to the budget projection of N1.05 trillion, reflecting a positive variance of N929.45 billion.
According to the report, the fiscal deficit “was financed through multi-lateral/bilateral project-tied loans of N1.98tn, domestic borrowing of N6.06tn, foreign borrowing of N3.37tn and budget support of N3.19tn in the period under review.”
The report stated that total Federal Government revenue rose to ₦20.98 trillion in 2024, an increase of ₦8.50 trillion, or 68.11%, from the ₦12.48 trillion generated in 2023. However, revenue still fell ₦4.89 trillion, or 18.92%, short of the annual budget target.
Oil revenue
Oil revenue remained the primary source of weakness. Gross oil revenue totaled N15.07 trillion, missing the budgeted target of N19.99 trillion by N4.93 trillion.
The study shows that international crude oil prices averaged $74.65 per barrel in the fourth quarter, falling below the budget benchmark of $77.96 per barrel. Average daily crude oil production reached 1.54 million barrels per day, trailing far behind the budgeted figure of 1.78 million barrels per day.
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Despite disappointing oil performance, non-oil revenue outperformed forecasts.
The report states that overall non-oil revenue reached N16.09 trillion, beating the yearly projection of N10.81 trillion by N5.29 trillion, or 48.91 percent.
However, spending lagged behind fund releases. The report indicates that Ministries, Departments, and Agencies spent N3.27 trillion—or 81.91 percent of the disbursed, cash-backed funds—by June 30, 2025.
