Media: chronic shortage of dollars in Nigeria will escalate into a crisis

MOSCOW, 19 Sep — PRIME. “Chronic shortage of dollars” in Nigeria leads to a crisis, the country is unable to benefit from rising oil prices, according to the Financial Times.

“This is really the perfect storm… No one could have foreseen this: low oil production and high demand for dollars,” reports the publication of the words of the entrepreneur in the field of financial technology in Nigeria, Ayina Aboyeji.

As the FT notes, citing currency traders and investors, the chronic shortage of dollars in the country has recently escalated into a crisis. In addition, oil revenues have fallen sharply due to “mass theft”, which led to a decrease in energy production.

It is noted that both political parties and ordinary residents who want to pay for their studies abroad need dollars. The problems are exacerbated by the lack of significant exports in sectors other than oil, according to an economist at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.

“Nigeria is heavily dependent on oil inflows, but you also need other capital flows, such as remittances, most of which do not go through official channels,” Mosope Arubaya, an expert at IC Group, was quoted as saying.

The analyst stressed that Nigeria has become less attractive to foreign investors, in part due to difficulties in repatriating income.

Earlier, the International Energy Agency in its report said that oil production in Nigeria in August fell to 980,000 barrels per day – the minimum that was observed in July 1985, and the prospects for the restoration of production are disappointing.