A professional businessman in a suit speaking at a conference related to banking and finance.
The country’s finance minister Wale Edun, speaking at Semafor’s World Economy Summit in Washington D.C. this week, said the number was “very much a stretch target” but one that Africa’s biggest economy needs to reduce its fiscal deficit from around 6.1% of GDP to 3.8%. Edun said the government is working to increase oil production to at least 2 million barrels per day (bpd). Oil production was 1.47 million bpd in 2023 against the government’s target of 1.69 million bpd, the regulator said. While it is typically Africa’s largest crude oil producer, Nigeria’s ability to gain foreign exchange from increasing oil prices has been hampered in recent years by theft and the sabotage of pipelines. Edun said the government had already had some success in addressing these problems. Nigeria’s government also aims to boost revenues through “greater efficiency in collecting taxes and other fees and charges that the government has a right to impose.” He said the government was using digital technology to improve tax collection.