Pressed Nigeria sets modest growth plan

NIGERIA approved a threeyear spending plan targeting modest economic growth as Africa’s most populous country tried to emerge from a revenue squeeze caused by the collapse of the price of oil, its main export, Budget Minister Udoma Udo Udoma said.

The government had forecast the economy to grow by 3 percent next year, rising to 4.26 percent in 2018 and 4 percent in 2019, Udoma told reporters in Abuja after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Oil production was estimated at 2.2 million barrels a day and $42.5 (R600) a barrel next year, increasing to 2.3 million barrels at $45 a barrel in 2018 and to 2.4 million barrels at $50 a barrel in 2019, he said.

Gross domestic product might contract 1.8 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

“We’re keeping to a very conservative figure in terms of reference price of crude oil even though we’re expecting it to go higher,” Udoma said. “The government intends to intensify efforts in pursuing a non-oil driven economy. We will continue to spend money on roads, rail transport, ports and so on.”

Nigeria, which relies on oil for two-thirds of its revenue and more than 90 percent of foreign-exchange income, saw its economic woes worsen as militant attacks in its southern oil region cut output to the lowest in nearly three decades.

The economy contracted 0.4 percent in the first quarter, putting it on course for the first recession in 29 years.

Exchange-rate pressure, which mounted on the naira as foreign earnings dipped, was expected to ease and lead to a stronger currency in the region of 290 naira per dollar as the plan was implemented, according to Udoma.

The currency closed at 318 naira to a dollar in interbank trading on Wednesday in Lagos, the commercial capital.