Covid-19 pandemic: FG slashes 2020 budget

The Federal Government has sent a revised budget to the National Assembly, cutting down some costs in view of the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria.

A top source in the National Assembly shared a copy of the revised 2020 budget on Wednesday, noting that a meeting was ongoing between the leadership of the National Assembly and the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari.

Part of the documents showed that there is a 20 per cent cut on capital projects across ministries, departments and agencies to the tune of N312,820,542,675.

The budget review became necessary following reduced revenue and oil prices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, The PUNCH reports.

Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization said Wednesday it expects world trade to tumble by between 13 and 32 percent this year.

WTO chief Roberto Azevedo warned the world is facing the “deepest economic recession or downturn of our lives.”

Forecasts made just a few weeks ago have become outdated.

In mid-March, Moody’s ratings agency said it expected moderate recessions of around two percent this year in the United States and 2.2 percent for the eurozone.

Since then, most of Europe has followed Italy and Spain into lockdown, as has much of the United States, slamming the brakes on both production and consumption. Punch