adminLAGOS – Nigeria’s government will pump 350 billion naira ($1,76 billion)in the next quarter into Africa’s biggest economy hit hard by a slump in oil revenues, its finance minister said on Tuesday as parliamentprepares to pass a much-delayed budget.
Africa’s top oil producer is grappling with its deepest economic crisis in years, brought on by the fall in crude prices.
President Muhammadu Buhari presented a record $30 billion budget in December but asked for its withdrawal a month later to make changes after a further drop in oil prices. The total budget has not changed but the deficit has risen to 3 trillion naira from 2,2 trillion.
Giving details of the amended draft, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said the government planned to spend 350 billion naira in capital expenditures in the next quarter alone.
“Companies that had laid off staff and those that had abandoned projects are going back to sites and the economy will bounce back,” she said in a statement, without saying how the spending will be funded.
Senior Nigerian lawmakers said on Tuesday they expected parliament to pass the 2016 budget this week after a three-month delay to allow for revisions after a decline in oil prices. — Reuters
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