In the third quarter of 2023, Nigeria collected a hefty N948.07 billion in Value Added Tax (VAT), according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This data is sourced from the Abuja-based VAT Q3 2023 Report that was only recently made public.
Compared to the second quarter of 2023, when it was N781.35 billion, the report shows a substantial 21.34 percent growth in VAT collection. During the third quarter of 2023, the sources of VAT payments were as follows: N522.08 billion from local sources, N204.58 billion from overseas sources, and N221.41 billion from import sources.
With a quarterly increase of 91.87%, the agricultural, forestry, and fishing industries outpaced all others in terms of growth. Next came the 80.25 percent rise in the operations of extraterritorial organizations and bodies. On the other hand, growth in the real estate sector was the slowest at -37.68%, and construction saw a decline of 9.54% as well.
The study shows that in Q3 2023, the sectors of manufacturing (26.51%), information and communication (19.04%), and banking and insurance (12.31%), which contributed the most to the VAT revenues overall. Households’ activities as employers and those producing undifferentiated goods and services for personal use accounted for the very small fraction, at just 0.02 percent. Water distribution, sewage treatment, waste management, and remediation operations accounted for 0.06 percent, while organizations and entities operating outside of the territorial jurisdiction accounted for 0.10 percent.
Notably, when comparing the third quarters of 2022 and 2023, the value-added tax revenues increased by a strong 51.60%, indicating a considerable expansion in the country’s VAT revenue.
