Barely hours after the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, began a global oil fight, Brent crude oil crashed by about 30 per cent, sending Nigeria into a revenue crisis.<\/p>\n
According to details on oil data site, Brent crude sold at $35.42 Monday morning.<\/p>\n
In December 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari signed a N10.50 trillion 2020 national budget. In the budget, Nigeria pegged oil production at 2.18 million barrels per day, with a price benchmark of $57 per barrel.<\/p>\n
Now confronted with having only about half of what it projected in revenue for 2020, the government may not be able to finance the budget.<\/p>\n
The outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic has seriously impacted on the world economy, causing disruption in stock markets and supply chains around the world.<\/p>\n
In the case of Nigeria that makes most of its foreign earnings from oil and produced its oil at about $30 per barrel, the price crash portends a recession for the economy, according to experts.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, last week announced that a mid-term review of the 2020 budget will be carried to reflect the realities on the ground.<\/p>\n
It is yet unclear if the cut will apply to the earmarked allocations to the health, education, agricultural and power sectors, which have a controversy of insufficient budget funding.<\/p>\n
Coronavirus; an economic vampire<\/p>\n
The senior economist, SPM Professionals, Paul Alaje, said coronavirus is not just after people’s life, it is an “economic vampire” that is sucking vitality out of countries.<\/p>\n
He said if the coronavirus spread is not contained, it will lead the world into another economic quagmire which will be evident in recession or depression as the case may be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barely hours after the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, began a global oil fight, Brent crude oil crashed by about 30 per cent, sending Nigeria into a revenue crisis. According to details on oil data site, Brent crude sold at $35.42 Monday morning. In December 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari signed a N10.50 trillion 2020 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":22422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[228,570],"class_list":["post-22421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-oil-production","tag-saudi-arabia"],"yoast_head":"\n