Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Wale Edun has said the country would take a second look at the 2025 budget assumptions.
Edun’s statement is coming after the U.S. President Donald Trump slammed a 14 per cent tariff on non-mineral exports.
The minister said this at the corporate governance forum Monday in Abuja, where a performance scorecard for State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) was also launched.
In the 2025 Appropriation Act, Nigeria pegged its crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel.
While noting that the adverse effect of tariff hike would be felt through oil price plunge, Edun said part of the solutions thrown up by the situation would be to intensify efforts to ramp up crude oil production to curtail any price effect
Edun explained that the economic management team will look at the various scenarios and advise the government accordingly.
“The economic management team would look and make sure that they are on top of the situation; based on the announcements made in April to exempt mineral exports, including oil. So, therefore, it’s the price effect, the oil price effect, that may well feed through. And it is the job and responsibility of the economic management team of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, amongst others, to look at the various scenarios that might play out.
“There’s global uncertainty at a huge level, so nobody knows exactly what will happen based on announcements that have been made, we’re not sure what will be delayed, what will be reversed, or what will be implemented. So, it is not an announcement that the budget is being reviewed. It’s an announcement that it is our responsibility to look at the various scenarios and options and advise the government accordingly,” he added.
The minister further disclosed that Nigeria-US trade has been in surplus in the last three years (2022-2024).
He said Nigeria’s export to the US was N1.8 trillion, N2.6 trillion and N5.5 trillion in 2022-2024 respectively.
The minister explained that oil and mineral exports accounted for 92 per cent, implying oil and minerals exports amounted to N5.08 trillion in value while non-oil was just N0.44 trillion.
He said: “Consequently, the tariff effect on exports is negligible if we sustain our oil and minerals exports volume.
“We are also focusing on non-oil revenue mobilization by FIRS and Customs.
“Budget adjustment and prioritization where possible, and also innovative non-debt financing strategies.”
