Drowning in debt, hedge fund billionaires’ home faces budget crunch

Connecticut, home to hedge fund billionaires alongside cities mired in poverty, is racing against the clock to pass a budget or face further spending cuts to education and municipal aid across the state. Nearly two months without a budget, Connecticut is getting crushed by a burdensome debt load that has squeezed spending and amplified legislative […]

After $1.1trn from oil in 35 years, Nigeria has just $3.9bn left, barely enough to fund 16% of budget

Despite earning a whopping $1.09 trillion from oil exports in 35 years, Nigeria still lacks the capacity to fund its annual expenditure programme, according to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). NEITI, in its second occasional paper series entitled “The Case for Robust Oil Savings for Nigeria”, said from 1980 to 2015, Nigeria exported […]

Boon from oil not enough to plug Ghana’s budget hole as prices drop

A surge in Ghana’s oil output this year may do little to ease the country’s fiscal strains as crude prices are lower than what it budgeted, eroding the gains from extra production. This year’s average Brent crude price of $52 a barrel is below the $56 forecast in the budget, which could complicate the state’s […]