Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has given his final approval for a record 2020 budget of N10.81 trillion ($28.38 billion), despite the risks of recession due to falling oil prices.

The annual budget for the year 2020 was finally not slashed as the government had announced at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, fearing a fall in its oil revenues. It is even higher than the budget initially set in December. "I have just promulgated an expenditure budget of N10.81 trillion, which represents an increase of N216 billion (about N557 million) over what had been proposed," the head of state said at a ceremony in Abuja.

Mr Buhari explained that this increase was due in particular to additional expenses caused by the health crisis. This is not the first time his administration has adopted an ambitious budget, but it usually struggles to find the funds to finance it.

Newing, the largest oil producer and one of the two largest economies on the continent with South Africa, was already struggling to recover from the recession of 2016-2017, and at the end of May, the Minister of Finance announced that its Gross Domestic Product could this time contract by 8.9% in 2020.

Subject to the backlash of lower oil prices, the export of which accounts for about 90% of the country's foreign exchange earnings, and nearly two-thirds of the national budget, it will have to borrow from international financial institutions if it wants to keep his budget.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently approved an emergency financing plan to support the fight against the pandemic to the tune of $3.4 billion. Already in February, a report by the financial firm Moody's indicated that "Nigeria is among the countries whose situation appears to be the most worrying in terms of debt sustainability" in the West African zone.