Experts task Nigeria’s FG on strengthening monetary, fiscal policies

Financial experts Wednesday advised the Federal Government to strengthen the current monetary and fiscal policies which exited the country out of economic recession.

The experts gave the advice in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos while reacting to the second quarter report of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which indicated that Nigeria was out of recession.

They lauded the Federal Government for getting the country out of recession but called for more efforts to sustain economic growth.

Prof Sheriffdeen Tella, a Professor of Economics at Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun, advised that bank lending rates should be brought down for the manufacturing sector to have access to credit.

Tella said that government should ensure early passage and implementation of annual budgets, stressing that capital allocations were necessary to sustain the current economic momentum.

He also called for complementary monetary and fiscal policies.

“CBN and Ministry of Finance must work hand in hand, it is not good for the economy if one is working against the other,” he said.

Tella said that the current exchange rate policy should be improved on by the apex bank to ensure stability in the foreign exchange market.

He advised that the country should continue to pray for stability in the oil sector for enhanced growth and development.

On the impact of the new development on the capital market, Tella expressed optimism that the market would respond positively with appropriate and stable government policies.

Tella said that the capital market failed to react appropriately to the news because of technical hitches experienced on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Sept. 4.

Mallam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Ltd., said that the nation’s exit from recession would encourage more foreign investments into the country.

Kurfi described the news as a welcome development and advised that government should invest more in sectors that contributed to the exit, especially agriculture to sustain the tempo of current economic growth.

“Government should not allow us to go back into recession; all policies that will help us to sustain the present growth should be promoted,” he said.

According to him, the government should promote good policies without further delay to improve on economic growth.

Kurfi said that youths should be empowered by the Federal Government through technical and financial assistance to reduce the unemployment rate in the country.

NBS reported on Sept. 4 that Nigeria’s economy, the biggest in Africa, had exited recession, as the data released showed that the country’s GDP grew by 0.55 percent in the second quarter, this year.

The statistics office reports showed that Nigeria’s economic recovery was driven principally by the performance of four main sectors of oil, agriculture, manufacturing, and trade.