Coronavirus: Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari sets up a committee as global pandemic hits Africa's biggest economy

A new committee has been set up to assess the impact of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Nigeria’s economy.
This comes after the outbreak caused a decline in the price of crude oil in the global market.
The Nigerian naira and stock market have also been affected by the virus.

President Muhammadu Buhari has set up a committee solely focused on the economic impact of the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19.

According to Nigeria's Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the board will assess the impact of the outbreak on the nation's 2020 budget.

The committee is made up of;

the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed,
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva,
Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba,
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele and Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The economic impact of coronavirus

So far, the virus which was recently declared a pandemic, has caused a decline in the price of crude oil in the global market.

As a result, the Nigerian currency (Naira) has declined by 1.10% to N367 per dollar at the parallel market.

The Nigeria stock market has also been hit, losing the most in almost a decade as sell-off persists. The Stock's All Share Index declined by 4.9%.

As the outbreak continues to spread across the world with two confirmed cases in Nigeria, analysts predict a toll on Nigeria's export earnings.