The MD of IMF, Christine Legarde says the state of Nigeria’s economy is critical and requires proactive monetary, fiscal and structural policies to put it on the path of growth. She said this during a media conference at the IMF WD spring meetings and it has attracted the reaction of Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.
The Minister, said Nigeria will overcome its economic challenges without taking loan facility from the IMF, adding that Nigeria is adapting to its new realities by implementing fiscal policies to steer the country back on track for stable growth with a diversified economy.
She expressed optimism that sound fiscal policies and investments would boost Nigeria’s economy by 2017. Adeosun insisted that what the country was passing through was surmountable because government was already applying a “cocktail of measures to address the problem.
Her words: “Nigeria is not sick. The real vulnerability in the Nigerian economy is over-dependence on a single source of revenue; oil. We have resolved to build resilience into the country’s economy to hedge against future oil shocks. This is because dependence on oil brings about vulnerability and laziness.
So, we are doing a combination of things to diversify our economy, with revenue mobilisation to enable sufficient investment in developing the non-oil sectors. We have great opportunities to reset the Nigerian economy and ensure that as we go forward, growth will be in a sustainable manner so that we won’t be vulnerable to oil price fluctuations.’’
She said that the compelling business case in Nigeria is that the fundamentals remain very strong, a teaming, young growing population, rich in resources and that the government of the day is determined to finally get it right.
She added that the long term investors recognise this and understand the difference between short term and long term issues and that the case for Nigeria persuades one to plan for the longer term opportunities…. so make everybody just kpompki….
