Nigeria faces budget uncertainties over falling oil prices
ABUJA
- There are strong indications that Nigeria is currently being faced with uncertainties over the implementation of 2018 budget which was benchmarked at $50.5 per barrel.
Crude price has fallen to less than $60 per barrel from above $80 per barrel in 2018.
This has been generating some concern among industry stakeholders including the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, who said the country is having a tough time meeting commitments to fiscal responsibilities.
Kachikwu, who was quoted in a statement, stated that “Nigeria is facing uncertainties over budgeting as a result of falling oil prices. The coun try is also having a tough time meeting commitments to fiscal responsibilities.
“This portends danger because what it does is that, for the first time, we have been alarmed as one of the countries that rely almost solely on receipts from oil. There is the uncertainty of budgeting and meeting fiscal responsibilities.”
The minister expressed concern over the fall in oil prices, saying it poses danger to the country’s economy.
“The tumbling of oil price from $82 per barrel to about $61 over the past few weeks is the toughest black Friday that we have faced. The price has tumbled by about $30 in a short period of about 54 weeks.
“What this says to us is that ultimately, we have to find the world’s oil order in which prices are stable and investors can make the right decisions.
Everyone has to work together including President Trump to protect consumers as well as producers because, unless we have a steady and determinable price for oil, we are not going to have investments. Our ability to fund budgets and countries that do not add additive value to oil resources will have difficulties,” he said.
- Nigerian Tribune.