Nigeria's economy is not in confusion- Finance Minister
Thu Sep 01, 2016 08:14:am Business
5K By Buchi Obichie
Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, Minister for Finance, Kemi Adeosun, declared that the Nigerian economy is not in confusion.
Whilst noting that the Nigeria economy has been heading to recession in the past six years, Adeosun however said that the economy is presently in the right hands.
Responding to questions on the new economic statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), she said: "It's the worst possible time for us. Are we confused? Absolutely not. How are we going to get ourselves out of this recession. One, we must make sure that we diversify our economy. There are too many of us to keep on relying on oil.
"We can see what happened at the output data of the oil and gas sector. What's happening in the Niger delta has dragged down the GDP of the entire economy. We're too dependent on oil whereas 87 percent of our GDP is oil. So let us drive those other areas
"We have to invest in capital projects. No, we are not confused, the time is confusing but we are not confused. We are extremely focused. We know that if we can just bare and get through this difficult period, Nigeria is going to be better for it.
"If we rely on oil and the price of oil remains low and the quantity of oil remains low, we can't grow. We have to grow our non-oil economy. I think we that we have a long way to go.
"We're not confused and we're not deceiving ourselves that everything is rosy. It's not. It's a difficult time for Nigeria but I think Nigeria is in the right hands and if we can stick with our strategy. We still have some adjustments to make. I think we need to make some adjustments in monetary policy. It's quite clear we do and we will do that. We're working on that. We need to try and find a way to support the manufacturing sector better and we will do that." She added
She pointed out that the high inflation rate in the country is cost-pushed.
"And when you have cost-push inflation, it is structural inflation. It is not going to respond to monetary policy tools such as increasing the rate of interest. We have to address the structural causes of the inflation," she said
But, she however said that the high rate of inflation has slowed down, which is a good sign for the economy.
Whilst noting that the Nigeria economy has been heading to recession in the past six years, Adeosun however said that the economy is presently in the right hands.
Responding to questions on the new economic statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), she said: "It's the worst possible time for us. Are we confused? Absolutely not. How are we going to get ourselves out of this recession. One, we must make sure that we diversify our economy. There are too many of us to keep on relying on oil.
"We can see what happened at the output data of the oil and gas sector. What's happening in the Niger delta has dragged down the GDP of the entire economy. We're too dependent on oil whereas 87 percent of our GDP is oil. So let us drive those other areas
"We have to invest in capital projects. No, we are not confused, the time is confusing but we are not confused. We are extremely focused. We know that if we can just bare and get through this difficult period, Nigeria is going to be better for it.
"If we rely on oil and the price of oil remains low and the quantity of oil remains low, we can't grow. We have to grow our non-oil economy. I think we that we have a long way to go.
"We're not confused and we're not deceiving ourselves that everything is rosy. It's not. It's a difficult time for Nigeria but I think Nigeria is in the right hands and if we can stick with our strategy. We still have some adjustments to make. I think we need to make some adjustments in monetary policy. It's quite clear we do and we will do that. We're working on that. We need to try and find a way to support the manufacturing sector better and we will do that." She added
She pointed out that the high inflation rate in the country is cost-pushed.
"And when you have cost-push inflation, it is structural inflation. It is not going to respond to monetary policy tools such as increasing the rate of interest. We have to address the structural causes of the inflation," she said
But, she however said that the high rate of inflation has slowed down, which is a good sign for the economy.
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