Macroeconomic Report & Economic Updates
March 8, 2016
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 11)
In the crude oil market, OPECs weekly
basket price increased 1.07 percent from $29.02 per barrel in February 19 to
$29.33 per barrel in February 26. A combination of factors were
responsible for the slight price increase. First, a decrease in the number of
active oil rigs in the US2 (the lowest since 2009) may have
marginally eased the glut in the crude oil market. The ongoing efforts by OPEC
and other major oil producers such as Russia to freeze oil production have also
played a significant role in stemming the downward trend in oil prices. With
the current market conditions, the price of crude oil is expected to maintain a
fairly stable and modest upward trajectory in the near term.
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 20)
Power sector
analysis shows an increase in power generated by 15.5 percent from 3639.2 megawatt
to a peak of 4196.2 megawatt between April 22, 2016 and April 29, 201612,
albeit a sharp fall to 25.2 megawatts on April 23, 2016 following a system
collapse13. In a bid to attain the targeted 10,000 megawatts by 2019,
the Federal Government is set to complete the ongoing 47 power transmission
projects across the country, which would boost power supply14.
However, the delays in passing the budget into law is a major constraint to the
completion of the projects. Thus government needs to speed-up the passage of
the 2016 budget to provide the funds to complete the projects.