Senator Ali Ndume has stated that the naira’s fall versus the dollar is generating more income for the federal government’s 2024 budget.
He stated that the 2024 budget, presented by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in November, is a ‘dollarised’ budget in terms of income, as the majority of the government’s revenue is derived from crude oil exports, which are valued in dollars.
During an interview with Channels Television, Ndume stated that if the dollar’s value climbed, the government would have more naira to spend on its naira-denominated expenditures.
He noted that Nigeria’s main export, crude oil, is still in great demand in the global market, and that the country will gain from the present dollar-to-naira exchange rate.
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.”