Nigeria generated the sum of N392.8 billion from company income taxes in the first quarter of 2021. This is contained in the quarterly report on company income tax by sectors, recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This represents an increase of N97.1 billion (32.84%) compared to N295.7 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020 and a 32.82% increase compared to N294.72 billion generated in the preceding period (Q4 2020).
Highlights
Breweries, Bottling, and Beverages sector generated the highest amount of company income tax with N23.26 billion generated.
It was closely followed by Professional Services including Telecoms which generated a sum of N18.17 billion while State Ministries & Parastatals generated N17.35 billion in the review period.
Notably, March 2021 inflation rate of 18.17% is at the highest since February 2017.
As has been acknowledged by the Central Bank of Nigeria in its Q4-2020 economic report, a major driver of Nigeria’s current inflation is food price inflation which was 22.95% (March 2021). This is the highest level of food price inflation over the past fifteen years.
Prior to 2021, the last time food price inflation was over 20% was in July 2008 (20.9%) and prior to that was in October 2005 (24.6%). So, 2021 food price inflation trends are in rarefied territory.
The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) publishes a Selected Food Price Watch report, which gives additional context to how prices of some food items are changing. Interestingly, popular food items such as Garri, Maize, Rice, Vegetable Oil, Beans are showing significant YoY price increases of more than 20%.