Indications that the nation’s economy is gaining productive traction have emerged with the Company Income Tax (CIT) collections rising to N392.77billion in the first quarter this year, representing 32.84 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase over collections in the corresponding quarter of last year.
The latest Company Income Tax By Sectors (Q1, 2021) just published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), indicated that that the sum of N392.77bn was higher than the N295.72bn generated in Q4 2020 and N295.68bn generated in Q1 2020.
An analysis of the report showed that Breweries, Bottling and Beverages generated the highest amount of CIT with N23.26bn generated and closely followed by Professional Services including Telecoms which generated N18.17bn.
According to the Bureau, State Ministries and Parastatals generated N17.35bn while Textile and Garment Industry generated the least and closely followed by Mining and Automobiles and Assemblies with N13.49m, N34.40m and N73.57m generated respectively.
The NBS further stated that out of the total amounted generated in Q1 2021, N152.33bn was generated as CIT locally while N184.59bn was generated as foreign CIT payment. The balance of N55.85bn was generated as CIT from other payments.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian economy exited recession in Q4, 2020 as growth in agriculture and telecommunications erased the negative indices recorded in oil and gas sector.
Specifically, the NBS reported that in the quarter under review, the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 0.11% from a year earlier, compared with a decline of 3.6% reported in the preceding quarter.
Analysts believe that the improved corporate tax collections in the first quarter of this year reflect the modest recovery being witnessed in the economy as the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on its key sectors continues to abate.
