New trade policy will help diversify Nigeria’s economy

The Head, Trade Policy and Facilitation, German Development Cooperation (GIZ), Mr Alexander Werth, said on Thursday that Nigeria was on the verge of diversifying its economy with new trade policy.

Werth told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja that Nigeria would overcome dependency on oil to earn foreign exchange as it diversified into industry and agribusiness.

According to him, the new trade policy is trying to ensure that Nigeria moves away from oil to non-oil sectors.

“This dependency on oil revenue can be reduced by diversifying the Nigerian economy and I think this is what the trade policy is trying to do. To move away from oil to the

Nigeria faces N1.3 trillion spending gap at $70 oil

Nigeria faces the negative prospects of a N1.3 trillion cut in government spending next year, if oil prices trade at an average of $70 per barrel in 2015, unless the government chooses to spike bond issuances and widen the deficit to maintain spending close to this year’s level.

With Brent crude averaging $103 dollars per barrel so far in 2014, Nigeria’s gross Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) budgetary disbursements to the three tiers of government was equivalent to N6.359 trillion between January and October 2014.

Nigeria’s Bonny Light trades at a slight premium to Brent.

Calculations show that