The federal government has disclosed plans to incentivize Nigerians who have domiciliary accounts to encourage them into investing their foreign currencies in the local economy. The aim is to attract foreign exchange and build up the reserve against import bills.
Minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy of the economy Wale Edun also revealed that N2 billion has been disbursed to each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory as part of the
N5 billion palliative that was announced by the federal government to cushion the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Mr Edun said the facility is a blend of grant and borrowing by the federal government to the states and FCT. He said the fund is not part of the proposed $800 million World Bank loan to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal. The minister said the government had to hold back on the balance of N3 billion to avoid a spike in inflation figures if the funds were released at once.
The finance minister hinted that he would investigate allegations of job racketeering in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Apart from that, the minister also said he will query the reason the board of SEC had to embark on official retreat to Malaysia after the boards of all government ministries, departments and agencies were resolved by President Tinubu.
The economic minister said while the government cannot rely on borrowing to fund the national budget, it will mobilise revenue from improved oil production to earn more forex and create the enabling environment for local and foreign investors to come in to create jobs and improve the economy. “the key is to increase revenues so that government has enough funding to carry out it’s obligations and to stabilize the economy as a whole,” he said.
He anchored the economic plan of the administration on increasing revenue, effective debt management and automation of revenue collection to plug leakages and create the enabling environment for private sector players to invest and flourish.
Meanwhile, the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) Mele Kyari who was also at the press conference said the corporation would have gone bankrupt if gasoline subsidy was not removed by President Bola Tinubu on resumption of office.
Mr Kyari also said government will start making more monies soon following improved crude oil production, which he said was 1.7 million barrels as at Wednesday of this week; and removal of the subsidy.
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