Experts Advise FG On Monetary, Fiscal Policy Alignment

Some experts have advised the Federal Government to take steps to avoid the relapse of the economy into recession.
They gave the advice in Lagos yesterday while reviewing the state of the economy on the occasion of Nigeria’s 58th independence anniversary.
A former President of Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Dr Samuel Nzekwe, advised the Federal Government to align fiscal and monetary policies to attract investments into the country.
He said this became imperative since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had warned that the country might relapse into recession.
He said that that foreign investors would only invest in the economy if the business environment was conducive.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on September 25 that the economy might relapse into recession if certain steps were not taken.
Emefiele attributed this to the slow growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
An economy is said to be in recession after contracting for two consecutive quarters.
Recall that the economy slipped into recession in 2016.
It declined to 1.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2018 from 1.95 per cent in the first quarter.
Nzekwe said that government should focus more on improving economic indices to attract foreign investors and boost public-private partnerships.
He said that Nigerians needed to be constantly encouraged to consume locally produced and stop their preference for foreign goods.
“No country has ever created a great economy by depending on the industrial outputs of other nations.
“The task of rebuilding the economy is an assignment for all Nigerians,” he said.
Nzekwe said the last recession should have taught the country to come up with comprehensive inward-looking policies to boost local production.
He said that the government must enhance individual liquidity by spending wisely on agriculture, infrastructure and stimulating the manufacturing sector.
A former Director in the Department of Statistics at the CBN, Mr Titus Okurounm, advised that both federal and state governments should borrow from the capital market to finance revenue-yielding capital projects