The Next Finance Minister Will Face A Difficult Year – Okonjo- Iweala

Former Minister of Finance, Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said
her successor will face a
“difficult” year because of
plunging oil revenues. She
therefore stressed that the
economy needs expert
management to come out fine.
“We have a serious situation
with a cash crunch,” she told
Bloomberg in an interview in
Cape Town, South Africa at the
World Economic Forum on
Africa. “But fundamentally, the
economy is strong. If we can get
through the cash crunch,
manage the way through, build
on some of the assets we have,
by next year, things will be
better.”
Fall in global oil prices have put
Nigeria in a bad financial
position with authorities forced
to cut spending and states
relying solely on allocation from
the federal government owing
workers salaries for months. The
government relies on oil for
about 75 percent of its income.
Okonjo-Iweala said the next
finance minister must focus on
“a strong policy, the fiscal
consolidation path that we have
and looking toward
diversification of revenue
resources”.
Like several other Nigerians, the
former minister says she is
waiting for the new finance
minister to be named.
Now out of a job after her
tenure as minister ended,
Okonjo-Iweala said she plans to
take a break until August and will
then consider her career
options.