Nigeria's revenue fallen by over 60% due to Coronavirus - Buhari
President Buhari has raised an alarm over the decline in the country's revenue amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo who delivered President Buhari's remark at the start of the first-year
Ministerial performance review retreat holding in Abuja on Monday September 7,
said his administration adopted a N2.3 trillion economic sustainability plan to
mitigate the effect of the economic slowdown.
He said;
“For the government,
it has been a particularly trying time. 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.
“Yet we have had to
sustain expenditures, especially on salaries and capital projects, in order to
keep the economy going.
“But we have also
had to take some difficult decisions to stop unsustainable practices that were
weighing the economy down."
President Buhari who
denied claims of his administration being insensitive to the suffering of
Nigerians following the increased prices of fuel and electricity, said he
directed Ministers and senior administration officials to swiftly implement the
Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) to give succor to Nigerians.
He added;
“This government is
not insensitive to the condition of our people and the very difficult economic
situation and we will not inflict hardship on our people.
“In this regard, the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has created credit facilities (of up to N100B)
for the Healthcare (N100 Billion) and Manufacturing (N1 Trillion) sectors.
“From January 2020
to date, over N191.87B has already been disbursed for 76 real sectors projects
under the N1Trillion Real Sector Scheme; while 34 Healthcare projects have been
funded to the tune of N37.159B under the Healthcare Sector Intervention
Facility.
“The facilities are
meant to address some of the infrastructural gap in the healthcare and
manufacturing sector as a fall out to the COVID-19 pandemic and to facilitate
the attainment of the Governors 5-year strategic plan.”
Post a Comment