The Republic of Niger has slashed its planned spending for 2023 by 40% due to the international sanctions imposed after the military took power in a July coup, further crippling the economy in one of the world’s poorest countries, according to the military in a televised statement on Saturday, October 7.
The 2023 budget, originally estimated at 3.29 trillion CFA francs (i.e. $5.3 billion), was reduced to 1.98 trillion, but the specific places where the cuts would occur had not been detailed.
A trade blockade set up in the aftermath of the coup has driven up the price of food and created a scarcity of important goods including life-saving medicines but remarkably, the crises has not dulled the support for the military at home, as many people had been thoroughly fed up with the hardship and perceived corruption experienced under the Bazoum regime.
Note that Niger is an arid country on the southern border of the Sahara Desert, and is the world’s seventh-biggest producer of uranium, the radioactive metal popularly used for nuclear energy and treating cancer.
The country is also riddled by poverty and insecurity occasioned by violent Islamist groups. It is also largely dependent on aid.
