The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has described the federal government’s review of 2020 budget using $20 bench mark as a step in the right direction.

The Director General of NACCIMA, Amb Ayo Olukanni, who gave the commendation in an interview with The Nation, noted that this became imperative as the global oil market is suffering continuous decline in product prices.

Olukanni who described as commendable the decision of the federal government to revise the 2020 budget oil benchmark to $20 per barrel, said the development was inevitable, following the crash of the global prices of crude oil brought about by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The situation brings to bear once again, the overdependence of our economy on crude oil and the need to focus our collective energy, as a country on the diversification agenda of the government as was captured in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020, which we hope will now be revised for a successor plan taking due note of COVID-19 and post Covid-19 era.”

He pointed out that the 2020 budget has been passed into law by the National Assembly, stressing that close collaboration between the executive and legislative arms of government on the process of passing and approving an amended budget was cordial.

“It is our expectation that the issues of recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure and debt servicing will be adequately considered to ensure a mitigation of the negative impact of COVID-19 on our economy while ensuring that the debt burden on the future generations is negligible.

“In all of these, attentions should be paid on supporting and survival of SMEs at this period in view of their role as contributor to GDP and job providers,” the DG explained.