BY: Moses olajuwon Obajemu
The Federal Government discharged its obligations to its creditors by committing the sum of N1.57tn tto debt servicing in the first six months of the year.
Clem Agba, the minister of state for Budget and national planning, disclosed this in a presentation on Nigeria;s debt profile.
He said of on government’s expenditure performance, N9.97tn was appropriated, while N4.45tn, representing 89.3 per cent of the pro rata N4.99tn was expended.
The minister stated that out of the expenditure, N1.57tn was for debt service, and N1.61tn for personnel cost, including pensions.
He disclosed that as of end of June 2020, only N444.75bn had been released for capital expenditure, largely due to the budget revision exercise.
Agba, however, noted that this had increased to about N1bn by July 2020.
The minister said the country was cutting its crude oil production by about 300,000 barrels daily to keep agreement reached by members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies.
Agba said the decision to cut crude oil production by OPEC and its allies, a group that is popularly referred to as OPEC+, was in order to stabilise the global oil market.
The minister said, “Crude oil prices declined sharply in the world market, with Bonny Light crude oil price dropping from a peak of $72.2 per barrel on January 7, 2020 to below $20 per barrel in April 2020.
