Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said government was not discarding its blueprint for economic development captured under the Vision 20-2020 and the Transforming Nigeria document.The Federal Government yesterday identified key priority areas of the economy it plans to focus its attention on under a medium-term economic programme to create jobs and opportunities for development.
Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said at her maiden media briefing yesterday in Abuja that though government was not discarding its blueprint for economic development captured under the Vision 20-2020 and the Transforming Nigeria document, government has identified some key sectors that must be addressed to create the enabling environment for growth.
These include infrastructure development, with primary focus on completing important uncompleted projects (power, roads) and avoiding new ones that would be difficult to complete; security; agricultural development to ensure food security and job creation; manufacturing; housing and construction; entertainment industry support; education and health as well as promotion of investment in the oil and gas sector.
“We will focus on those sectors that affect the common man. That is why government is focusing on the development of power. If we achieve that, Nigerians will begin to see tangible achievements. We have to focus on food security. Inflation has come down to about 9.4 percent. We can build on that and move ahead.
“The essential elements of the medium-term economic plan, which are built on Vision 20-2020 and the Transforming Nigeria documents, are focused on creating jobs, building critical infrastructure and developing opportunities for the youth. Whatever government is going to do with the economy would be geared towards pro-jobs growth,” she said.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, who also hinted on fiscally tighter budget that would require prioritisation on projects in the coming year, said government would be paying closer attention on the country’s debt profile, particularly on domestic debts, with a view to reducing borrowing from local sources.
She gave the country’s total debt stock at about $39.7 billion (about 20 percent of GDP), out of which about $34 billion, or about 17.5 percent of GDP, is accounted for by domestic debts, which translates to about N5.2 trillion and about $5.3 billion in external debts, or three percent of GDP.
No magic wand
Though the minister said government was yet to identify a particular methodology for creating jobs under the programme, she assured that the Economic Management Implementation Team, in collaboration with the Chief Economic Adviser, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the various job creation agencies, has commenced deliberations to develop a strategy in that direction.
Considering the uncertainty and volatility in the global economy at the moment, the minister urged that Nigeria should learn to manage her economy in a manner that would take care of the challenges, pointing out that this demands being very focused in the approach to economic issues as well as working harder to achieve set targets.
“I hear the press talk about magic wand. I don’t have any magic wand to wave. There is no single person who can solve the country’s problems. It will be a team effort,” she declared.
She called for the maintenance of a stable macro-economic policy by managing the country’s fiscal issues in a more prudent manner, by bringing down the recurrent expenditure level from the current 74 percent to about 70 percent, at the rate of one percentage point per year over the life of the present administration.
“All arms of government should look seriously on cutting expenditure and ensure fiscal consolidation as well as maintain a fiscal deficit level of three percent of gross domestic product (GDP),” she stressed, assuring that she is committed to working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the monetary policy side to contend inflation and grow national reserves.
Besides, the minister underlined the need for an investment climate reform to remove the bottlenecks to new investments in vital sectors as well as the completion of reforms in other sectors of the economy, including privatisation, deregulation, and liberalisation, to create the environment conducive for investment.
She also called for more efforts to promote transparency and fight against corruption, while keeping the procurement processes competitive and transparent as well as discouraging impunity in the handling of finances.Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
The time for change is here...Pls God,lead and guide our leaders right.
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