In May, Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told a ministerial briefing that her department was projecting a fiscal deficit of just 1.8% of GDP for the 2004 budget year. It is the straight-talking finance minister’s first full budget in office and is proving to be the sternest test yet of whether she can shake up her country’s creaking public sector.
Nigeria is burdened by debt and is not known for fiscal rigour, so the stakes are high. Achieving the deficit target will not just benefit the economy – more importantly, it will transmit a strong signal that Nigeria is serious about economic reform.
