The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has argued that the country’s economy is performing better now under President Muhammadu Buhari than was the case under previous administrations.
Ahmed, who stated this after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, explained that the m Excess Crude Account (ECA) is depleted because it has not been funded for some time.
She also said the money was withdrawn from the account to purchase arms for the prosecution of the anti-insurgency war.
Explaining the depletion of ECA, the minister recalled that the sum of $1 billion was withdrawn from it for the procurement of arms, in consultation with state governors.
On the Council’s approval of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, (MTEF), the Minister said, “The assumptions that we made for the next medium-term framework from 2023 to 2025 is that crude oil price will be at $70 per barrel for 2023, $66 for 2024 and $62 for 2025. Crude oil production is projected to be 1.69million barrels per day (bpd) for 2023, and 1.813million bpd for both 2024 as well as 2025.
“We have also projected that the nominal GDP, which is the size of Nigeria’s economy, will rise to N225.5trillion, with 95% of this contribution by the non-oil sector, while the oil sector will be contributing only 5%. And some steady increase from 2024, 2025 to reach up to N280.70trillion in 2025”.
“This means that Nigeria continues to retain its position as the largest economy in Africa”, she further stated.
