The Minister of Finance and the Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has told Nigerians to expect a fairly tight budget as the country awaits the presentation of the harmonised 2014 budget by President Goodluck Jonathan to the joint session of the National Assembly.

She said this during a breakfast dialogue with the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, NESG, in which she assessed the performance of the economy for 2013.

In what seems to be her last appearance before the organised private sector for the year 2013, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala provided a breakdown of Nigeria’s economic performance in 2013 by highlighting one after the other, sectors of the economy that had recorded remarkable improvement.

She said “some of the government’s schemes like YouWIN was highly successful” with a target to provide even more jobs in the coming year. She also stated the need for Nigeria to improve on its fights against corruption.

While speaking to Channels Television, she gave a hint that the 2014 budget would be a fairly tight one. She said: “We have a theme of fiscal consolidation with growth, which means we are going to direct the budget to those sectors that will give the most growth in the economy, and that means that we will tighten but at the same time priortise.

“All the infrastructural sectors are top priority for the President, and the budget will go towards supporting those sectors. In power, it will be transmission, as we are channelling a lot of resources into transmission.”

The Nigerian economy is expected to get a boost from agriculture, tax generation, automobile and the non-oil sector of the economy. These are seen to have become paramount as the population continues to grow with its attendant socio-economic challenges.