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IMF official, experts urge govt to step up policy implementation

By Chijioke Nelson
08 June 2018   |   4:24 am
Nigeria must step up the implementation of its acclaimed policies now that oil prices have presented a favourable opportunity, as well as review others urgently, if the quest for growth and sustainability are to be achieved.

Nigeria must step up the implementation of its acclaimed policies now that oil prices have presented a favourable opportunity, as well as review others urgently, if the quest for growth and sustainability are to be achieved.

Besides, with a reminder that the price of crude oil matters to all oil exporting countries, hence the need to make use of it now, experts at the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Nigeria Business Conference agreed that when oil prices go up, private investments follow and when there is the opposite, it is deep outcome for the economies.

This is coming barely seven days after the United States envoy to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, also reminded the government that the best security it can afford the citizenry is to provide jobs, education and fairness to al

The latest call is against the backdrop of the long standing pursuit of not only investments, but those that will ensure inclusiveness, as well as sustainable and help the country to be free from the oil price shock.

The Senior Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Nigeria, Amine Mati, yesterday in Lagos, said that the main driver of private investment is access to infrastructure, which involves electricity and good roads, but unfortunately, they are key factors why the country and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa is not doing well as other emerging markets and economies.

Warning that foreign direct investments are attracted by favourable fundamentals, he restated the need for macroeconomic and political stability, as well as security in the country, adding that if the country does not have the right mix of these, the struggle to get long-term investment will remain.

He said that tax incentives are for loss making industries, to keep them afloat and not meant for corporate profit tax, but towards investment and productivity.

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