President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in reduction of the country’s revenues and foreign exchange earnings by almost 60 percent.
The president said the pandemic has foisted trying times, not just on Nigerian people, but also on the government.
He stated this at the start of the first-year Ministerial performance review retreat holding in Abuja where he was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“For the government, it has been a particularly trying time,” Buhari said. “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.”
The pandemic forced many economies across the world to shut down, drastically reducing the demand for crude oil, Nigeria’s main export foreign exchange earner.
The President said his administration adopted a N2.3 trillion economic sustainability plan to mitigate the effect of the economic slowdown.
“But we have also had to take some difficult decisions to stop unsustainable practices that were weighing the economy down,” he said.
