Nigeria soon to generate 90% revenue from non-oil sector –Adeosun

The Federal Government says it is anchoring Nigeria’s exit from recession on the possibility of diversifying its mono economy as to have non-oil sector cater for 90 per cent of revenue drive very soon.

Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who stated this on Thursday to CNBC Television, admitted that Nigeria is on the verge of exiting recession, though the battered economy is yet to be fully back on track.

According to Adeosun, there is going to be a policy trust aimed at making non-oil sector compete with oil and gas,

“There are two main planks upon which the country is planning to enjoy a more robust economy, and it is good to state here that the government has already gone deep into them, and they are to open up more sources of revenue from other sectors of the economy and there is no relenting on intensifying the ongoing war against corruption”, Adeosun stated.

However, she refused to react on the recent ranking of Nigeria as being lower by Amnesty International, made worse by instances of state funds being hidden away, locally and internationally by corrupt officials.

But Adeosun pointed out that the recent licencing of the Nigerian Development Bank, which is awaiting final accent of the National Assembly to take off is one of government’s bold steps, aimed at having the private sector come on fully into the economy.

Read also: Nigeria’s forex policy unsustainable without reforms –World Bank

On the how the infrastructure decay prevalent in the country could be tackled, the Minister disclosed that Nigeria is working out plans to secure international loan facilities that would be solely dedicated to improving the major infrastructure base, especially power and transportation .

She stated: “Improving non-oil revenues is something we are working hard on. We are rolling out measures to get more people into the tax net.

“We are getting out of recession because we are following the right type of policies. We are improving our revenues, we are improving our efficiencies in how we spend money.

“We are investing in the infrastructure that is needed, power, rail, road, the big enablers of growing sustainable economies.”

Adeosun said liquidity on currency markets has been improving as the central bank has boosted dollar supply, thanks to recently rising oil prices.

She added that government was harmonising fiscal, monetary and trade policies to get the economy growing again.

Adeosun said Nigeria plans to issue long-term debt on the international markets more regularly for infrastructure projects, taking advantage of the country’s debt to GDP ratio of 13 percent. But the interest burden is rising due to low revenues.

But just on Wednesday, the World Bank chief economist for Africa, Albert Zeufack, said fiscal adjustments in Nigeria would be “extremely challenging” and that the country needs to reform its finances to ensure it can hedge against any future currency crisis.

 

 

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