Africa Briefs
Nigeria to cut budget due to oil price
Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, will cut the size of its record 10.6 trillion naira (US$34.6 billion) budget for 2020 because of a sharp decline in the price of crude, the finance minister said on Monday.
"There will be reduced revenue on the budget and it will mean cutting the size of the budget," finance minister Zainab Ahmed said in the capital Abuja after a meeting with president Muhammadu Buhari.
She added that she would be part of a committee, also including the minister of state for petroleum, the head of state oil company NNPC and the central bank governor, that would determine the size of the budget cut in the coming days.
Crude oil sales make up around 90% of foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer. The 2020 budget, passed in December, was calculated assuming crude production of 2.18 million barrels a day at a price of US$57 per barrel. – Nampa/Reuters
Algeria needs economic reforms
Plunging oil prices have increased the urgency for Algeria to reform its economy, politicians and business leaders said on Monday.
Energy minister Mohamed Arkab said the country had been in "permanent consultations" with other oil producers after the collapse on Friday of an OPEC+ supply deal, which led Saudi Arabia and Russia to say they would raise output.
Algeria depends on energy exports for 95% of its foreign earnings, which had already halved over the past five years to about US$30 billion in 2019. Currency reserves have more than halved in the same period.
The 2020 budget, passed in December, envisaged an oil price of US$60 a barrel but still planned for a 9.2% cut in public spending to bring years of deficits under control.
Algeria has struggled for years to diversify its economy away from oil and gas and encourage private sector growth. Mass protests over the past year against the old ruling elite could make it difficult to implement painful spending cuts. – Nampa/Reuters
Kenya govt budgets losing credibility
Kenya's parliament issued a rare and stinging rebuke to the finance ministry in a report seen by Reuters, saying a pattern of unrealistic revenue projection is fuelling growing debt.
The criticism from the parliamentary budget committee comes less than two months after the International Monetary Fund said mismanaged public infrastructure projects worth a total of US$10 billion have stalled.
"They need to do more realistic revenue estimates," committee chair Kimani Ichung'wah told Reuters, saying the finance ministry sought to revise last year's budget just weeks after it was approved by parliament.
Finance minister Ukur Yatani, who was appointed in January after acting in the role for six months, said the government had missed its annual revenue collection targets by a cumulative 1 trillion shillings (US$9.75 billion) over the past seven years.
Revenue expectations have now been lowered, he said, and expenditure of hundreds of billions of shillings had been cut. – Nampa/Reuters
Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer, will cut the size of its record 10.6 trillion naira (US$34.6 billion) budget for 2020 because of a sharp decline in the price of crude, the finance minister said on Monday.
"There will be reduced revenue on the budget and it will mean cutting the size of the budget," finance minister Zainab Ahmed said in the capital Abuja after a meeting with president Muhammadu Buhari.
She added that she would be part of a committee, also including the minister of state for petroleum, the head of state oil company NNPC and the central bank governor, that would determine the size of the budget cut in the coming days.
Crude oil sales make up around 90% of foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer. The 2020 budget, passed in December, was calculated assuming crude production of 2.18 million barrels a day at a price of US$57 per barrel. – Nampa/Reuters
Algeria needs economic reforms
Plunging oil prices have increased the urgency for Algeria to reform its economy, politicians and business leaders said on Monday.
Energy minister Mohamed Arkab said the country had been in "permanent consultations" with other oil producers after the collapse on Friday of an OPEC+ supply deal, which led Saudi Arabia and Russia to say they would raise output.
Algeria depends on energy exports for 95% of its foreign earnings, which had already halved over the past five years to about US$30 billion in 2019. Currency reserves have more than halved in the same period.
The 2020 budget, passed in December, envisaged an oil price of US$60 a barrel but still planned for a 9.2% cut in public spending to bring years of deficits under control.
Algeria has struggled for years to diversify its economy away from oil and gas and encourage private sector growth. Mass protests over the past year against the old ruling elite could make it difficult to implement painful spending cuts. – Nampa/Reuters
Kenya govt budgets losing credibility
Kenya's parliament issued a rare and stinging rebuke to the finance ministry in a report seen by Reuters, saying a pattern of unrealistic revenue projection is fuelling growing debt.
The criticism from the parliamentary budget committee comes less than two months after the International Monetary Fund said mismanaged public infrastructure projects worth a total of US$10 billion have stalled.
"They need to do more realistic revenue estimates," committee chair Kimani Ichung'wah told Reuters, saying the finance ministry sought to revise last year's budget just weeks after it was approved by parliament.
Finance minister Ukur Yatani, who was appointed in January after acting in the role for six months, said the government had missed its annual revenue collection targets by a cumulative 1 trillion shillings (US$9.75 billion) over the past seven years.
Revenue expectations have now been lowered, he said, and expenditure of hundreds of billions of shillings had been cut. – Nampa/Reuters
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