Senator Ali Ndume asserts that the Nigerian federal government is not at a loss due to the naira’s depreciation against the dollar.
Instead, Ndume said, it is reaping greater revenue to support its 2024 budget.
The budget, presented by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last November, is essentially “dollarized” in terms of income.
Most of the government’s revenue is derived from crude oil exports, which are priced in dollars.
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During an interview with Channels Television, Ndume disclosed that as the dollar’s value rises, the government will have more naira available for its expenditures, which are denominated in the local currency.
He said:
“Don’t forget that this budget is a ‘dollarised’ budget, especially in terms of the income. And when it comes to the terms of the expenditure, it’s in naira.
“So if we are getting our money in dollars and the value of the dollar is up, that means we will have more naira in terms of what we spend, because we are not spending in dollars, we are spending in naira, while we are getting our revenue in dollars.
“Truly, the value of naira against the dollar has fallen but we are selling our major product that we generate income in dollars. And that means any dollar we get now will also be valued at the current dollar-to-naira exchange rate.
“So if you do the analysis critically, it may mean if you balance it up, we may have more money to fund our budget. So technically, Nigeria is even benefiting from the dollar-to-naira hike.”
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