The Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has given an update on how Nigeria exited from her second recession.
The Minister in the maiden edition of the Presidential Communication Team State house briefing, said, Implementation of Economic Sustainability Programmmes contributed largely to Nigeria’s exit from Recession.
According to the Finance Minister, the Federal Government sourced for funding from DFIs – IMF, AfDB, IDB and others , to reflate the economy in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic.
In her words; “We have a major target to bring down inflation to single digits. We are working with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, PEAC, and the Central Bank of Nigeria to achieve this”.
Zainab mentioned that the largest contributor to inflation in Nigeria is food inflation. “When you decouple it, you find that transport costs are the largest contributor, hence the decision to reduce import duties on Tractors and other vehicles”.
She also stated; “We have approval from the President to submit a supplementary budget to NASS to fund Additional Covid vaccines – to complement the ones arriving soon.
“Nigeria’s debt is still very much within sustainable limits. We need to roll out infrastructure now, and grow the economy now, not later. Our focus is on growing our revenues.
“We are at the final stages of negotiation with China Exim Bank for financing of the Ibadan-Kano section of Lagos Kano”.
The Finance Minister also revealed that the Nigerian Government recorded 97% budget performance in 2020.
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