UPDATE 2-Nigeria's economy to shrink 8.9% in worst case - finance minister

(Updates with Q1 oil revenue, World Bank plan)
By Felix Onuah
ABUJA, May 21 (Reuters) - Nigeria's economy could shrink as
much as 8.9% in 2020 in a worst-case scenario without stimulus,
Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said on Thursday, a deeper
recession than forecast after oil prices plunged due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
Ahmed told Nigeria's highest economic advisory body, the
National Economic Council, that the contraction could reach 4.4%
in a best-case scenario, without any fiscal measures.
But with stimulus, the contraction could be kept to just
0.59%, she said.
The pandemic and an oil price plunge have not only hit
growth but also dented the state's main source of income,
creating large financing needs and weakening the naira.
"We will go into recession - but what we are trying to do is
to make sure that it is shallow so that we will quickly come out
of it, come 2021," Ahmed told the council in a virtual meeting.
She said 40% of Nigerians were poor and the crisis would
increase poverty.
Ahmed said Nigeria had over 6,000 confirmed cases of the
novel coronavirus, but that this could rise to almost 300,000 by
the end of August. So far 200 people are confirmed to have died
with the virus.
A World Bank director taking part in the meeting said the
Bank was planning a package for immediate fiscal relief for
Nigeria.
Ahmed said the proposal was worth $1.5 billion and intended
for Nigeria's states to provide relief at sub-national level.
She said it could be disbursed by September.
Nigeria's first quarter revenue from crude sales was 940.9
billion naira ($2.6 bln), missing its target by 31% due to the
oil price crash, she said.
Ahmed said Nigeria has $72.04 million in its oil savings
account as of May 21, compared to $325 million in November.

(Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Kevin Liffey)