The International Monetary Fund (IMF),
one of Nigeria’s regular creditors, has cautioned Nigeria against
frivolous spending, especially in her fiscal policies, given the
uncertainty that still pervades the global economic scene.
The IMF’s
Senior Resident Representative in Nigeria, Mr. Scott Rogers, who
presented the World Economic Outlook, told journalists, in Abuja that
Nigeria must take advantage of the current growth to strengthen her
fiscal position by saving for the future, as there is no assurance of
early global economic recovery.
In his words: “The global economic outlook remains uncertain. The
global context has continued to witness slowing growth, mostly marked in
the advanced economies… “If the world economy remains weak, it will
continue to affect countries of the world especially those with strong
ties with the US and the Euro area which could actually go into
recession. Export growth in Sub-Sahara Africa has remained weak due to
the weakening economies of the advanced countries”
According to Rogers, the Nigerian economy stands the risk of being
faced with lower crude oil prices due to weak global economy and that as
such a high oil price benchmark, as being proposed by the National Assembly
could hurt the economy.
Therefore, the challenges, he said, is for the
nation to generate fiscal surplus while oil prices are high and use it
to build the nation’s reserves, rather than drawing it down from the Excess crude Account to be spent. “Stop spending what is meant to be saved. Make the oil price rule effective,” he advised.
Source: Vanguard
