Nigeria’s growth to slow in 2015, says minister            

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says that the Nigerian economy can slow about a percentage point next year due to adjustments to falling crude oil prices.Nigeria’s Thisday newspaper report on Wednesday said that the Nigerian minister told the Wall Street Journal that the tightening policy would shrink growth to around 5.3 percent, delaying some infrastructure, and would force the country to tax a booming informal economy that has long escaped oversight.
Nigeria’s problems are starting to add up, Okonjo-Iweala said.
“If not for Boko Haram and dropping oil prices, Nigeria would be registering 6.8 percent growth,” she said.
“Undoubtedly, it is going to be tough times. We are beginning to feel the impact,” she said.
She disclosed that a recently-purchased set of helicopter gunships and surveillance planes are helping Nigeria recapture some of the areas held by the insurgents.
“They are being pushed out day by day,” the minister added.