Nigeria’s excess crude account stands at $1.8bn in April, official discloses

Ahmed Idris, Nigeria’s accountant-general has disclosed Thursday that the balance in country’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at April 23 stands at $1.8 billion ($1,829,862,047.42).

Idris made this known at this month’s, April, National Economic Council (NEC) meeting presided by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, according to a statement signed by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity.

The accountant-general of the federation also informed the Council that the balance in the Stabilisation Account as at April 23 stands at N14 billion.

The current balance in the Natural Resources Development Fund Account as reported by the Accountant-General of the Federation as at April 23, stands at N134.9 billion.

Giving an update on Budget Support Loan Facility, he reported to the Council that 35 states commenced in 2016 and collected N1.39 billion. Thereafter, they collected N1.11 billion.

The repayment of the facility was extended from one year to two years.

He highlighted that an analysis of compliance level indicates that 52.5 percent was the highest, while 13 per cent was the lowest, with respect to the conditionalities for the Budget Support Loan Facility.

Excess Crude Account is a Nigerian government account used to save oil revenues above a base amount derived from a defined benchmark price. The Excess Crude Account was established in 2004, and its objective is primarily to protect planned budgets against shortfalls due to volatile crude oil prices. By delinking government expenditures from oil revenues, the Excess Crude Account aims to insulate the Nigerian economy from external shocks.