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Africa's richest economy surviving on borrowed cash

Lagos - Nigeria's finance minister says Africa's richest economy is borrowing money to pay salaries as it struggles through a "difficult cash crunch" brought on by halved oil prices.

Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala tried to be upbeat in a speech after the legislature on Tuesday approved a 2015 budget thrice revised because of slashed oil prices. Oil provides 80% of revenues for the government of Africa's biggest petroleum producer.

She said "revenue challenges" have prohibited the release of any funds for capital expenditure though food prices and single-digit inflation remain quite stable.

It's bad news for the incoming government of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, who takes over May 29 from incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

Okonjo-Iweala said the government already has borrowed more than half of the budgetary borrowing provision to pay salaries and other overheads.

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