Path to nation’s economic recovery, by experts
Economy
For the nation to recoverfrom the current economic woes, capital market stakeholders have urged federal government to seek guidance from financial experts in Nigeria and countries that have witnessed a similar problem.
Also, they stressed the need for government to give incentives to indigenous firms and initiate policies that would accelerate growth of manufacturing industries.
Speaking in a chat with The Guardian, the stakeholders, who cited the recent Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) inflationary figure of 17. 1 per cent submitted that government needed to take decisive steps in addressing the disequilibrium apparent in the entire gamut of the economy.
They added that the current economic situation is a disincentive for investors, especially in the search for foreign investments to boost national reserves and foreign exchange scarcity.
The Managing Director of Capital Bancorp Plc, Aigboje Higo, explained that for the country to move out of the current recession, government should study every sector of the economy and identify issues impeding the growth of these sectors.
He added that there was a need for government to also employ the services of experts that would come up with suggestions on how to tackle the problems.
“We should get credible people that would help us to succeed. Government should look at ways to sort out the power sector issue in the next 24 months. We should draw a plan and get people to execute it. If oil price goes up to 70, we would come out of the recession, if not we would remain there till the next three to four year.
The Managing Director of Partnership Investment Plc, Victor Ogiemwonyi, explained that government should give incentives to Nigerian firms and initiate policies that would attract investment and encourage businesses in Nigeria.“Government should give incentives. Nigerian business environment is very difficult, despite that we have a much better business environment. Virtually every company is in trouble because there is severe economic slowdown. Once the environment is friendly, legislations put in place properly, policies become consistent, the economy will rebound and people will do business in Nigeria,” he said.
The Director of Investment Banking, Chapel Hill Denham, Ayo Fashina, urged the Federal Government to shelve the ideal of borrowing from the international market considering the devaluation of the naira.
“The Federal Government had said it would borrow $1billion from the international capital market to fund its expansionary budget and stimulate economic growth as inflation, slow growth and other challenges continue to hit the economy.”
Fashina argued that there was no need to borrow money when the country has assets to sell, saying that the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, has over N3 trillion assets with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. He added that the government, the banks, and the regulators have to converge and help the country out of the current recession.
“Government needs to take steps at getting more supply of dollar. Government can sell part of its assets and raise money, government has joint ventures that can raise $10billion and it will help issues on supply of foreign exchange.“Put small equities and get other people to fund it. We need guarantee structure in place. It may not happen overnight, but with good steps, we can ease out the challenges we have currently,” he said.
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