We’ve exit recession in non-oil sector, says Minister of Budget

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma Thursday said that Nigeria has moved out of recession in the non oil sector adding that other sectors of the economy would record positive growth by the fourth quarter of 2017.

Udoma, stated this during the public consultation on the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), media and the organized private sector at the Federal Ministry of Finance Headquarters Abuja.

He said that the economy was recovering and by the end of the year there would be a positive growth across sectors.

The minister said that the public consultation on the MTEF and fiscal strategy paper was in line with the federal government and National Assembly’s resolution to return to the January-December budget cycle.

Udoma who also said the non-oil sector was growing, disclosed that recovery was being witnessed in some sectors of the economy including manufacturing, agriculture and services, adding that efforts made to achieve peace in the Niger Delta were producing results.

He disclosed that the executive would present the 2018 budget to National Assembly in October, adding “we are committed to proper implementation of the budget.

According to Udoma, MTEF and FSP provide the medium-term framework for the federal government’s financial projections for the next three fiscal years.

The minister explained that Components of the document usually include the exchange rate, inflation rate, oil benchmark, revenue target, review of the previous year’s expenditure and revenue performance, as well as the global economic outlook.

He said “MTEF is the government’s macroeconomic projection for the next three years,” calling on CSOs, media and the organized private sector to submit their inputs early saying that in two weeks it will be submitted to the Federal Executive Council.

The minister further stated that the federal government targets to bring down inflation rate to 15.74% in 2017, 12.45% in 2018 and 9% by 2020.

Minister of State Budget and National Planing, Mrs Zainab Ahmad said that the Economic Recovery Growth Plan which contains all the components of the 2018-2020 MTEF and FSP, is based on three strategic objectives namely; Restoring and sustaining growth , investing in our people and thirdly, building a globally competitive economy.”

She however, warned that Nigerian population was growing at 3 percent which may not be sustainable.

Earlier in his remarks the Director General of Budget Office BEN Akabueze said that the event was meant to afford every citizen the opportunity to contribute their inputs in the planning of the national budget as contained in the MTEF and FSP.

Akabueze said that government is committed to accountable governance noting that it was on that basis that the President signed the Open Governmance Partnership in July 2016, making Nigeria the 70th member country.

He noted that key thematic areas of the partnership include transparency, citizen engagement and empowerment as well as access to information.

“We are determined to bridge the gap between citizens and government by the measures we are taking to promote greater transparency and accountability in the entire budget framework,” the DG Budget added.

Highlighting factors that will influence projections in the proposed document, Udoma said the current global economic outlook shows that the country was expected to grow.

Some of the key assumptiondps and macro-economic framework include oil production at 2.2mbpd, oil price at $44.5 per barrel, exchange rate of N305/$, 15.74% inflation rate in 2017 15.74%, 2.19% GDP growth rate, N197.96trillion nominal GDP and N87.95 trillion nominal consumption.