The economic crisis currently rocking Europe and other western economies is affecting the fortunes of Nigerians in the Diaspora as their annual remittances to the country have dropped by 50 per cent to $5bn from $10bn.The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Dr Bright Okogu, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the 3rd Economic Policy and Fiscal Strategy seminar organised by the Centre for the Study of Economies of Africa.Major economies of the world have since 2007 passed through various stages of severe economic crisis as the global economy faces a more uncertain outlook.Within the last decade, the global economy experienced over 360 crises compared with about 185 crises in the 1980s.For instance, there is a huge debt crisis in Europe, debt ceiling and budget crisis in the United States, slow economic growth in Japan and political turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.Okogu said that the Diaspora Nigerians had also been affected as most of them now depended on their relatives in Nigeria to send them money for their survival.Before now, remittances from Nigerians in the Diaspora hovered between $10bn and $12bn.He said, The sovereign debt crisis and the declining Gross Domestic Product in Europe, low manufacturing output in France, Germany, Italy and Spain and growing US debt to the Gross Domestic Product ratio have led to situations where Nigerians abroad are now finding it difficult to make ends meet.This is what I have seen. This is what I have heard and it is as bad as that.Okogu further stated that if the Nigerian economy was not supported by the Excess Crude Account, the global crisis would have adversely affected it.He recalled that the growth of the economy largely depended on the informal sector.Earlier, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the crisis as well as the need to be prudent in governance informed the Federal Governments decision to reduce the 2012 oil price budget benchmark from $75 per barrel to $70 a barrel.The minister condemned the 74.4 per cent recurrent expenditure, noting that by 2015, the recurrent expenditure would be reduced to about 70 per cent.To this effect, she said that efforts were now geared towards merging some agencies of government as well as eliminating ghost workers.This, she said, would help to reduce expenditure profile in the coming years.Also, in order to ensure macroeconomic stability and sustainable growth, the minister said there were plans to increase non-oil tax revenues, reduce multiple taxes and levies and improve collection efficiency.
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