The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has said the discovery of crude oil and the country’s increasing reliance on crude oil revenues have led to a severe downturn in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
He said the development exposed the economy to vulnerabilities that normally accompanied an increased dependence on a single commodity for survival.
The CBN governor said given Nigeria’s dependence on crude oil revenues for close to 86 per cent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings and over 60 per cent of government expenditure, the drop in prices in 2014 led to heightened inflationary pressures, depreciation of exchange rate, significant drop in external reserves, and eventually, the recession of 2016.
The apex bank boss said these in his economic blueprint for the economy for the next five years.
Emefiele said if Nigeria had maintained its market dominance in the palm oil industry, which stood at 40 per cent in the 70s, the country would be earning above $20bn annually from the cultivation and processing of palm oil today.
Source: Punch Newspaper
