‘Recession looms, 2020 will be difficult year’ – Okonjo- Iweala tells Buhari

Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala, has warned that recession and difficult times are ahead amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Iweala said this during an interview on Channels TV.

She urged the Buhari-led government and other African countries to diversify the economy and look for other means of revenue as difficult times are ahead occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When asked on the effect of oil prices on economies around the world, Iweala said: “What Nigerian government needs to do is to make the economy less dependent on these commodities and that is why for the longer time, restructure the economy so that you can also have other sources to create job for the people, other sources where you can tap revenues.

The former minister advised that Nigeria and other African countries’ economies have a lot of sectors like agriculture, tourism, and creative industries to diversify into to make the economy work.

” It is not just diversifying your economy but also diversifying your sources of revenue.

“This is what our country is going to look at now and start planning about how they are going to do better in the future,” Iweala added.

“2020 spilling into 2021 is going to be a difficult year but I believe that if the world acts as one, if countries do not retreat into nationalism, populism, we will all have the resources to deal with these issues and help countries that do not have enough.”