Kemi Adeosun, the minister of finance, explained why the federal government would be forced to make tough decisions next year.
According to Vanguard, the official made a claim as she
spoke at the opening of the Seventh Annual Bankers Committee retreat on
Saturday, December 12.
“It is going to be tough and we are going to have to
make extremely tough decision. We have got the resilience and space to
do that.”
Adeosun mentioned significant micro-economic challenges adding,
however, that Nigeria fortunately has some head-room, as the debt to GDP
ratio is at 12%, which allows to run a deficit budget with the specific
objective of stimulating the economy.
The minister further suggested her plan of ensuring economic growth:
“To do so, we need to do some fiscal housekeeping. We have to
control the significant challenge we have around recurrent. If you look
at recurrent at a percentage of our total budget with the just approved
supplementary budget, it is about 90 percent. If we continue in that
trajectory, every penny we borrow will go into recurrent.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s deputy Senate president, Senator Ike Ekwermadu,
has expressed pessimism over the economic situation in the country. He
advised President
Muhammadu Buhari to halt the downward slide of the Nigerian economy,
warning that failure to act on time might lead to a revolution by
Nigerians.
