Coronavirus robs Nigeria of 60% revenue

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said on Monday that Nigerian has been losing circa 60 per cent of it’s targeted revenues since the incursions of coronavirus pandemic disruption.

The fall in fortune has been seen significantly in the country’s revenue flow foreign exchange earnings.

“For the government, it has been a particularly trying time,” Osinajo said while representing President Muhammadu Buhari at the start of the first-year Ministerial performance review retreat holding in Abuja.

“As a result of the poor fortunes of the oil sector, our revenues and foreign exchange earnings have fallen drastically. Our revenues have fallen by almost 60 percent,” he added.

Osinbajo said despite the slump, the Nigerian Government had to sustain expenditures, “especially on salaries and capital projects, in order to keep the economy going.”

According to Osinbajo, President Buhari led administration adopted a N2.3 trillion Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) to mitigate the effect of the economic slowdown.

The plan, which consists of fiscal, monetary, and sectoral measures, is expected to enhance local production, support businesses, retain and create jobs and provide assistance to Nigerians, especially the most vulnerable.

He explained that due to the impact, the federal government had to take some stringent measures to stop unsustainable practices that were weighing down the economy.

Osinbajo siad, “In this regard, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has created credit facilities for the healthcare (N100 billion) and manufacturing (N1 trillion) sectors.

“From January 2020 to date, over N191.87 billion has already been disbursed for 76 real sectors projects under the N1 trillion Real Sector Scheme; while 34 healthcare projects have been funded to the tune of N37.159 billion under the Healthcare Sector Intervention Facility.

“The facilities are meant to address some of the infrastructural gaps in the healthcare and manufacturing sector as a fall out to the COVID-19 pandemic and to facilitate the attainment of the government’s 5-year strategic plan.”

Reca that during the height of the coronavirus, President Buhari inaugurated Economic Sustainability Committee on March 30, chaired by Osinbajo.

The committee was specifically charged with the responsibility of developing a clear Economic Sustainability Plan in response to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to propose monetary policy measures in support of the plan, among others.

Despite all that have been put in place to cushion the impacts of the pandemic on the country’s economy, finance experts and organisations have projected that the country may experience a severe recession.

Corroborating this, Clem Agba, minister of state for budget and national planning, has also warned that Nigeria may experience another negative growth in the third quarter of the year 2020.