Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan MBC Securities
The Economic Sustainability Committee set up in March investigated the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and sought to develop a clear economic sustainability plan in response to the economic crisis. The report from the committee however revealed the grim economic reality that the economy is presented with, underscored by huge revenue pitfalls and heightened unemployment projections. Nevertheless, the report recommended policy measures that could be implemented to avert a deep recession.
Economic Challenges Posed by the Covid-19 Pandemic
According to the report, the Covid-19 pandemic has severely disturbed the domestic economy, disrupting supply chains and causing massive job losses. One distressing outcome of the pandemic is the crash of crude oil prices, given that crude oil accounts for 50% of consolidated government revenues, 30% of banking sector credit and 90% of export earnings. Therefore, such a decline in oil price coupled with the inability to sell our rising crude inventory has resulted into large budgetary gaps, and also brought about the depletion of our dollar earnings, hence, forcing a depreciation of the Naira, resulting into an uptick in prices – mostly of imported goods.
