Nigeria Lost 40% Of Revenue To COVID-19 Pandemic As Recession Threatens More

 

The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has revealed that Nigeria lost 40 per cent of its revenue to the coronavirus pandemic. The revelation shows Nigeria's income problem and the current level of Nigeria's revenue which has been severely hit by the virus outbreak and measures taken by the Federal Government to curb it from spreading.

While speaking during a webinar organised by the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, Osinbajo said,  “It seemed the sun was beginning to shine quite brightly after the years of recession and its immediate aftermath. Then came COVID-19, possibly the worst economic crisis the world has seen.

"For us in Nigeria, it was a perfect storm for oil prices, Russia and Saudi Arabia choosing that very moment for a price war. Then the inevitable lockdowns resulting in closure of businesses. Our huge informal economy all but crashed and government revenues fell too by over 40 per cent.” Osinbajo said.

Osinbajo Reveals FG's Interventions Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

Osinbajo stated that the government has pumped money into the economy as a palliative in form of stimulus package of N2.3 trillion - this is over 1.5 per cent of the national income. The intervention is expected to reduce the rate of expected recession by 0.59 per cent, this is according to Osinbajo.

While explaining further, the activities of FG to safeguard the economy, Osinbajo said, "We have taken the opportunity to remove petrol subsidies and to insist that power distribution companies must engage with customers to ensure that new tariffs are based only on improved power supply,” he said.

Nigeria Will Experience Worst Recession

Nigeria is heading for its worst recession under President Muhammadu Buhari, the World Bank has revealed in a report titled ‘Nigeria in times of COVID-19: Laying foundations for a strong recovery,’. The World Bank's projection comes after AllNews reported that Nigeria will experience its third recession with Buhari as military head of state and President of Nigeria.

According to the World Bank, there are a number of factors that will drag Nigeria into recession and the effectiveness of President Buhari's administration will determine the impact. The global financial institution stated that the oil price crash and the negative impact of COVID-19 are the drivers of the impending recession.

Misery Of Nigerians Will Multiply This Year

A month ago, the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, stated that the misery of Nigerians will multiply in 2020, as the economy is heading for another recession - making it the third recession under President Muhammadu Buhari. She made this known while disclosing that Nigeria's economy will decline deeper than projected by international agencies.

Ahmed said Nigeria's economic growth might contract more than the projection made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and international credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings. According to Ahmed, the country's economy, which is the gross domestic product (GDP) could contract to as much as –8.94% in 2020.