A cash shortage caused by low oil prices has forced Nigeria to borrow heavily through the early part of 2015, with the government struggling to pay public workers, officials said Wednesday. “We have serious challenges. Things have been tough since the beginning of the year and they are likely to remain so till the end of the year,” said Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
*Finance Minister, Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala
Nigeria, Africa’s top economy and largest oil producer, has been hammered by the 50 percent fall in oil prices, with crude sales accounting for more than 70 percent of government revenue. “As it stands today, most states of the federation have not been able to pay salaries and even the federal government has not paid (April) salary and that is very worrisome,” said Imo state Governor Rochas Okorocha.
Okonjo-Iweala said the federal government had a projected borrowing allowance for 2015 of 882 billion naira ($4.4 billion/4 billion euros). But 473 billion naira had already been used up to meet recurrent expenditures, including public worker salaries. “We have front-loaded the borrowing programme to manage the cash crunch in the economy,” the minister told reporters.
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