Dangota refinery could save Nigeria from economic recession – IMF
The International Monetary Fund, the IMF, a global financial observer, predicts that Nigeria’s Dangote refinery will become the elixir for the country’s economy when completed and start production by 2022.
In its latest report on Nigeria’s economy, the Fund expressed hope that the launch of a refinery owned by the exceptionally wealthy African man, Aliko Dangote, could help Nigeria improve its balance sheet.
According to him, the Dangot refinery “can stimulate the growth of domestic oil production and stimulate GDP growth.”
On the other hand, the refinery in Dangot, if it starts production in 2022 according to the plan, could fully satisfy the domestic consumer demand for petroleum products, which almost all are currently imported, thereby improving the balance of Central Asia.
“Since crude oil for local processing is not subject to OPEC’s quota, the refinery could also stimulate domestic crude oil production and boost GDP growth,” the IMF wrote in its Article IV report on the Nigeria economy, released Monday.
Many experts also predicted that the refinery, which could cost Dangote about $ 15 billion to build, could help save Nigeria’s huge foreign exchange on fuel imports.
The 650,000 Dangota refinery is considered one of the largest refineries in the world and could end the irony of Africa’s largest oil producer, which imports about $ 7 billion in fuel a year and sees it instead. meet their needs and supply neighboring countries.
Renaissance Capital in a 2018 report predicted that the Dangota refinery could revolutionize Nigeria’s economy as its operations would add $ 13 billion, or 2.3%, to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The Dangot Refinery, described as the largest industrial project ever built in Nigeria, boasts a distillation column for separating crude oil into different fuels at different temperatures, making it the largest of its kind in the world.
The 650,000 barrels per day refinery is only part of a $ 15 billion petrochemical complex that will also house a gas processing plant and the world’s largest ammonia and urea plant, which is used to make plastics and fertilizers.
Fertilizer plants are considered off-the-shelf and can be launched at any time to contribute to the agricultural revolution not only in Nigeria but in parts of Africa to revitalize the continent’s economy.
The optimism of the global financial supervisor about the potential of the Dangot refinery is a victory over the sustained contribution of Africa’s richest man to the economic liberation of Nigeria and the continent as a whole.
Dangote’s original plan to enter the refining business was thwarted by government policy failures when the company bought one of the country’s refineries in 2007 as part of the privatization program of then President Olusegun Obasanjo.
This dream was short-lived, however, as the entire privatization process was quickly canceled by the next government after Obasanjo.
Today, Dangote’s commitment to the refining industry is gradually being implemented with the upcoming completion of facilities in the Lekki Export Free Trade Zone and the recognition of a global financial watchdog.
Source: – Daily Nigerian
