Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun says based on the situation at hand, the Federal Government would have to borrow more to meet infrastrutural obligation.
Speaking at the opening of the two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) retreat at the CBN Corporate Headquarters in Abuja at the weekend, with the theme: “Pathway to Price Stability Conducive to Economic Growth,” Adeosun said there remained a huge number of unbanked Nigerians whose contributions to the economy were hardly captured.
She said the government must devise ways to bring them into the financial mainstream.
According to her, “based on the current realities, the Federal Government would have to borrow more to meet its infrastructural obligation.”
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Governor, Godwin Emefiele, under whose auspices the meeting was convened, reiterated the need for the country’s monetary and fiscal authorities to collaborate and harmonize standpoints so as to develop the economy rapidly.
Emefiele, who also chairs the Monetary Policy Committee, said the MPC Retreat, which for the first time had in attendance a large representation of the fiscal authorities, was coming at a period when the country faced serious economic challenges.
He added that finding a sustainable solution required a broadened participation of colleagues from the fiscal side.
He said that the retreat, as a brainstorming session, would provide perspectives on certain Monetary Policy Committee decisions.
Emefiele said it would also close the gap on the coordination between monetary and fiscal authorities to chart a common course and take decisions to develop the economy.
In his remarks at the brainstorming session, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, said both the monetary and fiscal Authorities had no choice but to work together to guarantee the country’s economic growth.
He posited that the pathway to lower interest rate was to ensure monetary and fiscal authorities collaboration with the private sector.
In her presentation entitled: “The Macroeconomic Trilemma and Monetary Policy in Nigeria,” the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Central of Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr.Sarah Alade said the onus of achieving the trilemma of low interest and exchange rates as well as low inflation should not entirely be the function of the monetary authority.
Rather, she said it therefore necessitated the collaboration with fiscal authorities.
According to her, there was need for deliberate policies to ensure stability and engender growth in the economy.