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On Friday, 25th of November 2016, the Hon. Minister of Finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun made a presentation at Ecobank’s Economic Outlook for 2017. Here are key takeaways from her presentation titled Changing the Growth Narrative.
- Mrs Adeosun acknowledged that the administration had not engaged enough with the public. This was quite obvious as many of the proposals were just coming to the public domain for the first time.
- 25 billion of the 29 billion dollar loan request is going towards three major infrastructure projects. Namely two rail projects and the mambilla plateau electricity project.
- Seven hundred and fifty billion naira has been released for capital expenditure in the last five months. A significant proportion of this money, as a result of government’s previous debt to contractors has gone to banks who lent contractors money for previous projects.
- The administration met a wage bill of 165 billion at inception. It is currently at a 149 billion naira and still falling. 250 million dollars of the Abacha loot has just been released to the government by the Swiss authorities.
- A development bank with exclusive focus on small and medium scale enterprises will be established. This is because they constitute 50% of the nation’s GDP.
- A road trust fund will also be established as a form of ppp with the government and the private sector.
- The government is also looking at some form of concessions of the ports so goods can be scanned and duties estimated immediately than the present manual process of examining goods.
- The government also intends to create fiscal incentives for the agricultural sector in the 2017 project.
- In order to encourage Nigerians in the Diaspora to go beyond merely sending remittances, the govt in partnership with the private sector will develop a scheme where those in diaspora can build houses.
- The government continues to take cost cutting measures such as ensuring that agencies and parastals which generate income spend more prudently and remit revenue to the government. Screening of ghost workers is a continuous process .
- The focal point of the government is developing infrastructure so as to reduce the costs of doing business in Nigeria and enhancing ease of doing business. The government is also keen on improving its performance in various socio economic indicators like infant mortality.
Source: NRI