Nigeria Details Oil Windfall Spending

Wall Street Journal

24 Feb 2011

Nigeria Details Oil Windfall Spending

ABUJA, Nigeria—Nigeria has spent more than $27 billion from its oil-windfall savings account in three years, significantly eroding the total and putting the financial health of Africa's most populous country and biggest oil producer under scrutiny ahead of April presidential elections.

Officials here say they spent $27.5 billion from their so-called Excess Crude Account to weather the global financial crisis and to counteract falling oil prices, and that they can account for "every penny" spent.

But analysts say the depletion of the account—combined with dwindling exchange reserves, a rising debt profile and a lack of fiscal transparency — represent financial setbacks for a country that is poised to become Africa's biggest economy by the end of the decade.