ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s government is to allocate 60 billion naira ($180 million) more spending on capital projects as part of the 2016 budget and in addition to earlier releases, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Friday, as it tries to boost the economy.
Africa’s second largest economy is in the middle of its worst financial crisis for decades as a slump in oil revenues hammers public finances and the naira. The central bank governor has said recession is likely.
Government capital spending so far has exceeded 400 billion naira this year, Adeosun said, despite the record budget being held up for months by wrangling between President Muhammadu Buhari and parliament.
(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha, Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah; Editing by Louise Ireland)
