The revenue generated from Value Added Tax (VAT), has increased N250.6 billion or 1.73 per cent in the third quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics has stated.
Announcing the figure in a sectoral distribution of VAT report for third quarter, 2017 posted on its website, the NBS stated that the figure increased from N246.56 billion in the second quarter of last year to N250.56 billion in the third quarter of this year.
VAT is a tax on the amount by which the value of an article has been increased at each stage of its production or distribution.
The bureau also stated that the figure generated in the quarter was higher than N196.70 billion recorded during the same period in 2016, representing 1.73 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter, QoQ and 27.39 per cent increase Year-on-Year, YoY.
It noted that the manufacturing sector generated the highest amount of VAT with N28.98 billion, closely followed by Professional Services and Oil Producing, N22.73 billion and N12.09 billion. Statistics showed that the mining sector generated the least with N33.70 million, closely followed by Local Government Councils and Pharmaceutical, Soaps and Toiletries, N193.78 million.
NBS said of the total amounted generated in the quarter, N125.13 billion was generated as Non-Import VAT locally while N72.10 billion was generated as Non-Import VAT for foreign.
It, however, stated that the balance of N53.33 billion was generated as Nigeria Customs Service Import VAT.
Meanwhile the bureau said it committed to using the Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) framework to ensure a more robust and realistic aggregation of tourism statistics in Nigeria.
Recommended by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the TSA framework, adopted in 2015 by the NBS, links all tourism and travel statistics in Nigeria with the national accounts framework before national Gross Domestic Product, GDP is calculated.
Disclosing this in Lagos at an interactive session with members of the Association of Travel & Tourism Writers of Nigeria (ATTWON), the Statistician-General of the Federation and CEO, NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale, said that until recently “tourism data has been disaggregated and oftentimes fragmented.”
Dr. Kale, who was represented by Mrs. Lola Talabi-Oni, Technical Adviser to the Statistician-General, National Bureau of Statistics, noted that developing tourism had various far-reaching benefits ranging from job creation to increased revenue through taxes and foreign exchange to improved local infrastructure.
He said that it directly impacts the transportation, accommodation & food services, and the arts and entertainment sectors. Emphasising the importance of appreciating the NBS approach to tourism data to be able to have robust conversations on the figures, Dr. Kale said that the contribution of tourism to GDP using the Supply and Use Table of Nigeria is a measurement of Tourism Value Added.
Though limited in scope being dated 2010 to 2012, the Supply and Use Table is still a useful way to evaluate the growth and trends of the tourism sector. ATTWON is a collective of writers, bloggers, photojournalists, PR and Advertising Executives who communicate the travel and tourism industry in Nigeria who are committed to professionalism in the trade.
It was founded in 2015. “We have begun to build the structure to compile the Tourism Satellite Accounts,” Dr. Kale said. The NBS, according to him, had already established collaboration with such stakeholders as the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) to build a system of tourism statistics that feeds into the TSA.
He added that a broader platform will soon be established to function as a forum where other stakeholders can also put forward their contributions towards the development of a robust TSA.
The TSA developed by UNWTO in 2008, adopts the basic system of concepts, classifications, definitions, tables and aggregates of the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008), the international standard for a systematic summary of national economic activity, from a functional perspective.
It allows for the harmonization and reconciliation of tourism statistics from an economic (National Accounts) perspective. This enables the generation of tourism economic data (such as Tourism Direct GDP) that is comparable with other economic statistics.
Culled from Vanguard
