Rising from its monthly meeting on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, members of the National Economic Council, NEC, presided over by Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, expressed support for the plans and proposals of the Federal Government to steer the country out of recession.
While acknowledging the current economic challenges and difficulties, state governors at the meeting also endorsed the work of the President’s Economic Management Team and specifically commended the Budget and Planning and Finance Ministers, Mr. Udo Udoma and Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.
The Vice President is the Chairman of the Council, which advises the President on economic affairs of the federation and in particular on measures necessary for the coordination of the economic planning in the country.
NEC is composed of Governors of all 36 states of the federation, and the Central Bank Governor.
Highlights of the presentation were that: Economy is currently in recession; Dependence on a Single Commodity (Crude Oil) whose price we do not control is a major factor; Oil price collapsed to less than $30 per barrel in Q1 2016 and market expectations are that it will stay lower for longer.
Measures for Economic Revitalisation include; The President’s Economic Management Team (EMT) working on plan to generate immediate larger injection of fund into the economy through; Asset sales; Advance payment of license renewals; Infrastructure concessioning; Use of recovered funds etc to reduce funding gaps; Implementation of Fiscal Stimulus/Budget Priorities; Fast-track procedures through legislation and implementation of Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) of the budget; Meaningful diversification of the economy and cut down importation.
Council members in response commended the Economic Management Team and generally welcomed the presentation and expressed support for the plan to steer the nation out of recession.
Under AOB, Council members expressed confidence in and unanimously commended the EMT and both the Budget & National Planning and Finance Ministers for the presentations to the Council, praising their efforts, competence and capabilities.
There was also a presentation on public private partnership initiatives on affordable by Finance Minister, whose Ministry put figures of amount shared by the federal government and states at N53trillion in 7 months.
Highlights of her presentation include: Target of N1billion fund to operate PPP (N500 billion initial) to create a blended pool of long term funds to intervene in housing development finance and mortgage provision.
Funds aims to deliver family housing priced from as low as N2.5 million up to N18 million delivered in a ready to occupy condition with essential services (water and power connected).
The delivery target is 400,000 to 500,000 housing units per annum, while the ultimate aim of the programme is to channel funds from savers to borrowers, so that builders have the required capital to construct and prospective buyers can access credit to purchase. The fund is expected to attract low cost local and international capital, including from domestic pension and insurance funds, FG funding, as well as contributions from State Governments and other agencies.
States are to designate a liaison with whom Family Homes Fund can interface; Expedite building plan approval process and security of land title and Invest in enabling infrastructure e.g. Federal roads.
Furthermore, Minister of Finance reported that the balance in Excess Crude Account is USD 2.453 billion as at September 20, 2016; That the CBN has introduced cautious Monetary Policy orientation as dictated by consumer price and exchange rate; Adoption of policy tightening measures for flexible forex rate to address persistent pressures occasioned by scarcity and speculative demandd; Improving market dynamics by CBN; Interventions to States in the area of salaries and in commercial agriculture
The presentation also noted that controlling inflation is key to stabilising other macroeconomic indices and the current stance of monetary policy is expected to continue to help lock-in inflation expectations.
Adeosun told council that N50 billion has so far been disbursed to state governments, and the facility is ongoing.
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