Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun said on Thursday said Nigeria is in a recession.<\/p>\n
According to her, this was triggered by two consecutive quarters of negative growth.<\/p>\n
She however stated that ” notwithstanding, our focus should be on the progress we are making,\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAdeosun, who made the disclosure in her presentation to the Senate, assured that expenditure will focus is on infrastructure, adding \u201cwe are tackling infrastructure deficits.\u00a0 Our focus towards economic diversification is to bridge the infrastructural gaps.\u201d
\nThe Minister stressed the need to promote patronage for made in Nigeria products, saying Made in Nigeria must be promoted and prioritized across all sectors of Nigeria.
\nAdeosun on Thursday said the Federal Government has disbursed a sum of N247.98billon as capital release so far this year.
\nShe explained that the disbursements were being made in line with strategic priorities to address infrastructure deficit and drive domestic growth.
\nThe latest figure of N247.98bn, she noted, compares to a sum of N387bn capital spend for full year 2015.She stated that
\nN 21.6bn released for agriculture in 2016 is 4.9x of N4.5bn spent in 2015.
\nN118.0bn released so far to the power, works and housing in 2016 is4.0x amount spent for full year 2015 which was N29.3bn.
\nN24.0bn was disbursed to Transport ministry so far and that this is 3.6x of N6.5bn spent for full year 2015.
\nN9.5bn released in 2016 to Interior Ministry is 6.2xamountspent for full year 2015, which was N1.5bn.
\nN32.7bn for Defence Ministry has been disbursed in 2016 and this is 1.3x ofN26.1bn total release for 2015.Adeosun, who noted that debt owed to contractors has slowed the pace of implementation, however explained that contractors and cash call arrears totalling N5bn Joint venture funding arrears are being addressed.
\nThe Minister stated that in order to achieve the objectives of capital spending, the Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment is also working on government\u2019s soft infrastructure (N465.12m in capital spend released to date). She listed one of the objectives to include improvement in Ease of Doing Business ranking to 100thposition from current position of 169th.<\/p>\n
The Minister said the current stability in oil price has raised hope for Nigeria, noting that Oil prices are up 75% per barrel since hitting a 12-year low of around$27barrel.
\nAdeosun, who stated that oil production volumes are expected to rebound in the near term, explained that ongoing fiscal reforms are bearing fruit.
\nShe disclosed that for instance, the Federal Government is making a N8bn savings on payroll to date, while a N14bn in estimated savings on overhead is expected by yearend.
\n\u201cWhile production volumes have increased, the damage to oil facilities is concentrated on onshore oil fields from which we get our greatest volumes and revenues.
\n\u201cThe gap in production volume is being plugged by production in off-shore fields (Production Sharing Contracts) from which we incur higher costs. This therefore, minimizes the effect of increasing production in revenue terms,\u201d the Minister stated.
\nShe stressed that Investment in critical infrastructure is key to unlocking economic growth, while Cost reductions being achieved through fiscal reforms create headroom for capital investment.
\nThe Federal Government, she said is effectively managing debt overhang; forming strategic alliances with private sector to implement key projects with limited budgetary provision; restructuring of outstanding PPPs to address legacy issues and initiate New PPPs to ensure efficient delivery of infrastructure and value for money efficiency gains.
\nThe Minister explained that current FAAC disbursements are low due to the three-month lag in sharing of oil revenues. \u201cCrude oil proceeds in April are being shared in June and therefore, do not reflect recent increases in production volumes,\u201d she stated.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOur revenues are looking well; FIRS and Customs are doing well in terms of this\u201d Mrs. Adeosun also stated.
\nShe stated that \u201cOur spending is being targeted to stimulate the economy and achieve positive GDP Growth. There is a trade-off between growth and inflation. The objective is to target growth while keeping a close eye on inflation.\u201d We will invest in key infrastructural upgrades to stimulate the economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun said on Thursday said Nigeria is in a recession. According to her, this was triggered by two consecutive quarters of negative growth. She however…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n