The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says the country generated N1.49 trillion as the aggregate revenue from value-added tax (VAT) in the first six months of 2023.
NBS released the data on Monday covering the first and second quarters of 2023.
The figure represents a 25 per cent increase from the N1.18 trillion recorded in the first and second quarters of 2022.
According to the VAT Act, it is a consumption tax being administered by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) across the country.
VAT revenues are being added to the revenue account of the federation which is being disbursed to the three tiers of government through the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).
According to NBS, VAT collection across the country grew by 10.11 per cent to N781.35 billion in Q2 of 2023, from N709.59 billion in Q1.
The report indicates that local payments recorded N948.13 billion. While foreign VAT payments contributed N293.76 billion, N249.06 billion came from import VAT in the first six months of the year.
The manufacturing, information and communication sectors recorded the highest VAT
The report also shows that VAT from the manufacturing sector recorded the highest of N281.1 billion in the first half of 2023, representing a 25 per cent growth in comparison to the first six months (H1) of 2022.
The information and communication sector followed with N192.59 billion in revenue, representing a growth of 52 per cent when compared to H1 of 2022.
Other sectors are; mining and quarrying (N107.19 billion), financial and insurance activities (N92.67 billion) and public administration and defence (N70.98 billion).
