By Etuka Sunday with agency report
Nigeria’s Finance Ministry said it is set to lower the economic-growth forecast for 2015, as tumbling oil prices erode government’s projected revenue.
The federal government, which had initially projected 6.35 percent growth for next year, may lower that estimate by about one percentage point next week, Paul Nwabuikwu, a spokesman for the finance ministry, told Bloomberg by phone yesterday, in Abuja.
Global oil prices have plunged more than a third since June, roiling Nigeria’s markets, eroding foreign-currency reserves and prompting policy makers to devalue the Naira for the first time in three years. With crude exports accounting for about 70 percent of government’s income, the revenue slump may force authorities to curb spending in 2015 during an election year.
The federal government won’t resort to printing money or imprudent borrowing as it adjusts to lower prices of oil, Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Dec. 8.
About 15 percent of the one percent Fund will be for the provision and maintenance of facilities, equipment and transport for PHC facilities, while 20 per cent will cover essential vaccines and consumables for all eligible primary healthcare facilities across Nigeria.
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