Okonjo-Iweala Urges Nigerians To Bear With The Nature Of The Economy

Abuja – The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo–Iweala, 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 on Tuesday at the 2014 Ministerial Platform in Abuja, said the nation was not broke as being speculated in the media.
She said “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.
“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.’’
According to her, government is doing everything within its power to ensure economic stability in the country.
She said that presently, government had been 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.
“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 dollars to 38 dollars.
“At that time, nobody asked if the country was broke because we had saved up 22 billion dollars in the Excess Crude Account and we were able to continue spending and to stablise the economy.’’
The minister said that presently Nigeria was faced with fluctuations in quantity and price of oil, adding that it had affected the amount paid into government coffers.