The Managing Director of International Monetary Fund, IMF, Christine Lagarde on Thursday urged Nigeria government to diversify the country’s economy and stop the over dependent on oil.
Lagarde gave the call while speaking at the IMF conference in Washington DC.
According to Lagarde, Nigeria needed to diversify its economy, adding that oil prices may be low for long time.
She said, “I believe, having visited Nigeria in January, that it is also really important that the country looks at diversifying its economy, because it cannot rely exclusively on commodity prices only, particularly oil, because it might very well stay low for longer.
“Nigeria is full of energy, smart people, and can really transform some of its activities, including the agricultural sector where there is just too much by way of import, when there could be a lot of transformation in Nigeria and local consumption.”
Lagarde urged Nigeria to seek for economic assistance from the international community.
“Our recommendation is that Nigeria seeks help from the international institutions that can best help.
“Secondly, that Nigeria is open-minded in using flexibility of the exchange rates, in order to absorb some of the shocks. We believe that this is more efficient than to have a list of products that are barred from being imported to the country.
“Thirdly, we believe that it’s really important that budget be completed, decided and approved and we stand ready to help Nigeria, if it wants to seek our help,” she said.
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