Nigeria, Other African Oil Exporters To Lose $34bn, Says IMF

The International Monetary Fund has projected that Nigeria and other African oil exporters may lose about $34bn in revenue.

The IMF attributed the drop in revenue to the dwindling oil prices resulting from Covid-19 pandemic.

The Director of the African Department of the  IMF, Abebe Selassie, disclosed this at the Africa Ministerial Roundtable on COVID-19 Impact on Africa’s Energy Sector.

He said while African governments would be under intense  budget  pressure and rise in debt burden, such burden would be higher among oil exporting countries.

He said since the 2014 oil price collapse, production and investments in most African oil exporters have been on the decrease.

Selassie blamed the decline on structural issues, governance and security concerns in several countries especially in Nigeria and Libya.

He warned that if the price of crude oil hovers between $30 to $40 coupled with drop in production quota by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, African oil exporters would be faced with difficult fiscal challenges.

He said this impact would be severe on countries  with fiscal break-even prices such as Algeria, Cameroon, Nigeria and Libya.