Okonjo-Iweala: Nigeria is not broke

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the minister of finance, has assured Nigerians that the economy is growing positively in spite of the reduction of oil price in the international market.

Okonjo-Iweala, who stated this at the 2014 ministerial platform in Abuja on Tuesday, said the nation was not broke as being speculated in some sections of the media.

“If you look back two years ago, that title: ‘Is Nigeria broke?’ was written in a newspaper article; it is like people are trying to force Nigeria into brokerage,” she said.

“I think since two years, we have managed to keep things going. Let me explain these. Nigeria is a country that depends on a stream of income.

“That income is being able to collect taxes from companies, individuals and our income is also based on selling a product and that product you take to market and you take whatever price a buyer is willing to pay.”

She said government was doing everything within its power to ensure economic stability in the country, including budgeting below the existing oil price to help build buffers in case of uncertainty.

“We are operating an economy that depends on a product that fluctuates with oil price and we don’t have the right to control the price,” she said.

“Just like you have in your own household, when the quantity diminishes or the price drops, you remember in 2007 to 2008, the price of oil dropped from $140  to $38.

“At that time, nobody asked if the country was broke because we had saved up $22 billion in the Excess Crude Account and we were able to continue spending and to stablise the economy.”

The minister said that presently Nigeria, is faced with fluctuations in quantity and price of oil, which had negatively affected the amount paid into government coffers.

“Does that mean that the country is broke? We still have resources that we depend on; we still have the ability to tax.

“Sometimes, things need to be a little tighter, easier and we just have to weather it and manage ourselves but that does not amount to the country being broke.”

She urged Nigerians to bear with the nature of the economy and emphasied government’s determination to diversify the economy.

Commenting on the management of the fiscal deficit, she said that the ministry of finance would continue to ensure that it was kept as narrow as possible.