Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of
Budget and National Planning has stated that Nigeria’s economic outlook for
2018 and over the medium term is very positive.
Udoma said this in a statement
signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Akpandem James on Thursday.
James said the minister gave the
assurance while presenting a paper entitled: “Delivering Economic Resilience
and Growth” at the Financial Times Nigeria Summit in Lagos.
“The Federal Government has
continued to roll out initiatives, such as the Economic Recovery and Growth
Plan (ERGP) focus labs.
“ERG is aimed at attracting
sufficient private sector investments to ensure that Nigeria achieves the
growth target of seven per cent by 2020,” Udoma said.
According to him, the present
administration inherited a challenged economy, adding that the administration
has succeeded in turning the situation around as the economy is now out of
recession and growing again.
The minister said the collapse of
oil prices in the global market from 111.8 dollars in June 2014 to as low as
30.7 dollars in January 2016 set the country’s economy on recession by the
second quarter of 2016.
He said the Federal Government
responded with an expansionary 2016 Budget, supported by a Strategic
Implementation Plan (SIP), consisting of a series of short term interventions
aimed at reflating the economy.
“This was followed by the
development of the ERGP in 2017, a medium term plan whose implementation has
taken the country out of recession and will place the economy on the path of
sustained, diversified and inclusive growth.
“As part of the implementation of
the ERGP, there have been substantial increases in capital allocations to
priority sectors.
“There have been allocations to
priority sectors such as infrastructure and agriculture, with capital releases
of over N1.2 trillion under the 2016 Budget, and almost N1.5 trillion under the
2017 Budget.
“A number of reform measures,
such as the work being done by the Presidential Enabling Business Council
(PEBEC), have resulted in the country becoming recognised by the World Bank as
one of the top ten reforming countries in the world.
“The country has moved up 24
places in one year in the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings,’’ the
minister said.
In addition, Udoma said the first
phase of the focus labs was able to identify over $22.5 billion worth of
potential private investments, out of which projects with an investment value
of up to 10.9 billion dollars could be categorised as “most ready” to go.
“Several quick wins/early successes were
recorded and cumulative investments from the projects identified in this first
phase of the labs could rise up to as much as 39.2 dollars billion by 2025, if
effectively followed through,” he said.
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