Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019 All reproduction and presentation rights reserved.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, re-elected in February, presented a budget proposal on Tuesday
record for 2020 in Parliament, in an economic context that remains difficult for the oil giant
from West Africa .
Mr. Buhari presented a historic budget of 10.330 billion naira , or 33.8 billion dollars according to the
official exchange rate of 305 naira /dollar, up from the budget of 8.920 billion naira
approved for the year 2019.
The floating exchange rates used by the Central Bank and economic actors (about 360 naira
per dollar), however, bring the 2020 budget proposal down to some $ 28.57 billion .
This budget was calculated on the basis of a production of 2.18 million barrels of oil per day (against
1.86 million today), to $57 a barrel. It still needs to be approved by the Nigerian Parliament, which
usually takes months. In 2018, the budget was only approved in June , and in 2019, in
month of May.
Re-elected last February for a second term, Muhammadu Buhari, in power since 2015, had
committed to boosting growth, which remains weak at around 2% in the first half of 2019. He acknowledged
Tuesday before the members of the National Assembly and the Senate that "the economic environment remains
difficult" while announcing a target of 2.93% growth next year.
It is not the first time that his administration has adopted an ambitious budget, but it is struggling
generally to find the funds to finance it, in particular because of a downward trend in
oil production, on which the country remains highly dependent (70% of Nigeria's public revenue and 90% of
its export earnings).
The economy of Africa 's most populous country with 190 million people has gone through a severe recession
economy between 2016 and 2017, leading to millions of job losses, and high inflation which has
increased the level of general poverty.
The Buhari administration has been heavily criticized for its protectionist economic policy and little
reassuring for investors since his first election in 2015.