Nigeria plans to spend more than 12,650 billion naira ($33 billion) through next year, Reuters reported quoting official sources. This amount is more than 17% higher than the 10,800 billion naira ($28.2 billion) announced for the 2020 budget.

The government said it has revised the budget upwards to cope with the shocks induced by the combined effects of the new coronavirus pandemic and the fall in oil prices. This double crisis is putting heavy budgetary pressure on the State, and authorities were forced to seek loans from several international donors to finance an economic recovery plan. According to the Ministry of Finance’s document cited by Reuters, about 25% of planned expenditure will be allocated to debt servicing.

The rest of the expenditure will focus mainly on the completion of several ongoing projects before new ones are launched. Let’s note that the Nigerian authorities expect revenues of only 7,500 billion naira ($19.5 billion) in 2021, which is expected to further widen the country's budget deficit.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou