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The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, has expressed optimism about Nigeria’s economic future, assuring of better days ahead with the determination of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Administration to implement policies, initiatives, and programs that will positively impact on the lives of millions of Nigerians.
The Minister disclosed this at a meeting with foreign investors on the sidelines of the on-going Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington DC, last night.
Speaking of the fiscal performance, HM Edun said, On fiscal performance, where we met things was huge debt servicing, costing nearly 100 percent of revenues.
“We have cut it down by the half of this year to about 60 percent or so, which is still eye-wateringly high, but we are coping with it.
He added that the budget deficit is cut down from 6.5 percent of GDP to about 4.4 percent, and we are still hopeful of achieving our target of 4 percent of GDP for 2024.
Edun said that the present administration was determined to increase the revenue side of the budget with a target of reaching 23 percent of GDP.
His team, he assured further, would pursue the re-set of the macroeconomy with a view to achieving a level of performance that could bring about sustained development and rapid growth.
At the meeting, the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu, reported the Federal Government of Nigeria’s significant revenue performance of N12.6 trillion as of August this year.
He informed that the pro-rata budget projection for the month of August was N13.1 trillion, while actual performance was N12.6 trillion, resulting in an N500 billion deficit.
