Internally Generated Revenue, Public Debt and Budget Implementation in Nigeria

The study examined the impact of internally generated revenue (IGR) and public debt on budget performance in Nigeria. IGR was analysed comprehensively, while public debt was divided into domestic and external debt. Budget implementation was measured through capital and recurrent expenditures. The study employed an ex post facto research design and data from the Board of Internal Revenue of each state and the Statistical Yearbook of Nigeria Bureau of Statistics from 2013 to 2022 were used. Descriptive and panel regression estimation techniques were applied for data analysis. The results indicated a positive impact of IGR on both capital and recurrent expenditures. Specifically, IGR had a significant positive effect on capital expenditure (0.4276, p=0.001<0.05), while the positive effect on recurrent expenditure was not statistically significant (0.16603, p=0.165>0.05). Moreover, domestic debt (DDE) exhibited a positive and significant impact on both capital (0.0702, p=0.007<0.05) and recurrent expenditure (0.06113, p=0.033<0.05). Similarly, external debt (EDE) had a positive and significant effect on capital (0.1546, p=0.001<0.05) and recurrent expenditure (0.1419, p=0.001<0.05). Therefore, the study concluded that IGR and public debt had a statistically significant positive influence on budget implementation in Nigeria. This indicated that the established policies as regards IGR generation and public debt management foster a significant contribution towards attaining a sustainable economic development. Hence, the policy makers are required to strengthen the enforcement of the established policies towards effective management of public funds.