Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr Chinyere Almona, has urged the Federal Government to manage the fiscal policy environment towards reducing public debt. She urged the government to create bigger buffers to accommodate the likely increase in defence spending pressures and trade-related shocks to the economy.
 
She said with crude oil revenue under attack from falling prices, the government must get stricter with cutting the cost of governance within adjusted budget assumptions that reflect current realities.
 
“In a scenario of projected global public debt reaching 117 per cent of GDP by 2027 (the highest level since World War II), Nigeria’s current debt level is close to attaining this projection if nothing drastic is done to reduce the value and cost of borrowing within the short term.”
  
Urging the government to invest more in infrastructure that drives the productive real sector of the economy, she said food inflation has remained the major driver of the headline inflation rate for almost two years. 
 
She said: “We may need to review and reprioritise the 2025 budget assumptions to reflect a lower oil revenue expectation. This should also call for necessary and critical adjustments to non-essential recurrent expenditures and non-productive subsidies. 
 
“Also, to intensify our non-oil export promotion, the government must provide incentives to empower high-growth sectors like solid minerals, the creative industry and the digital economy. We can boost agricultural production and agro-processing through targeted investments in local fertiliser production, highly subsidised extension services, tech-driven irrigation and value chain infrastructure.

“Most importantly, to drive inclusive economic growth, we must boost access to microfinance, improve and stabilise power supply and drive regulatory reforms that support MSMEs and local manufacturing for job creation, revenue generation and economic growth,” she said.