Things might still be hard till the end of 2015 - Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The minister of finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has urged nigerians not to expect any dramatic change in the countries economy, as the economic problems currently facing the country is far from over.



Speaking to the general public, Mrs Ngozi said "As you know, I have always been truthfull to you since the present economic problems began. I would like to state again that we have serious problems, things have been difficult since the beginning of the year and they are likely to remain so till the end of the year. We have serious challenges but we also have strengths and if we do the correct things we can keep a steady course and emerge out of the present situation,"



"as a result of the 50% decline in oil revenues, the country has faced a difficult cash crunch and the Federal Government has focused on keeping the economy stable and the government running through a series of measures."



On the measures, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stated that: "We have front-loaded the borrowing programme to manage the cash crunch in the economy. Out of the N882 billon budgetary provision for borrowing, the government has borrowed N473 billion to meet up with recurrent expenditure,

including salaries and overheads."



She stated that "traditionally the first part

of the year witnesses low revenue because tax receipts come in from the middle of the year," adding: "This has compounded the challenges caused by the steep drop in revenues due to the oil

price fall.



"As a consequence of the revenue

challenges, there has been no capital

budget release so far this year."



The minister however pointed out that "in

spite of this challenge, government has

managed to keep the economy stable to

the point that the Nigerian economy

which is projected to grow by 4.8% this

year is according to respected analysts is

doing much better than many other oil

producing countries.".