FG May Review 2020 Budget Due To Coronavirus Impact

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed has dropped hints that there may be a review of the N10.594 trillion 2020 budget as a result of the impact of Coronavirus on world oil price.

The Minister made this known after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.

According to her, the current price of oil per barrel was $53 against the $58 dollars in the budget and it may soon be reviewed to accommodate new prices.

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In her words: “We are concerned because it COVID-19 does have an impact on revenue and at the current crude oil price of $53 per barrel is below the budget bench mark. What we are doing is that we are studying the situation and when the budget was passed we committed to do a midterm review.

“We will do the mid term review and if the revenues are so significantly affected, we will have to do some revisions in the budget by way of budget adjustment.”

Already, China where the virus originated from and which is the largest consumer of oil in the world has had to cut down on its consumption because its industries have stopped production.