Prof. Vivid Eregha, a lecturer in economics on the Pan-Atlantic College, has suggested the federal authorities to extend crude oil exports and leverage agricultural prospects to facilitate progress past the Worldwide Monitory Fund (IMF) projection.
He gave the recommendation in an interview with the Information Company of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Saturday.
NAN studies that the Fund has lowered its forecast for Nigeria's financial progress in 2024 to three.0 p.c, which is one proportion level decrease than the October 2023 progress forecast of three.1 p.c.
The unfavorable forecast was introduced by the IMF in its January 2024 World Financial Outlook replace.
The IMF additionally famous the decline in financial progress for the sub-Saharan area to three.2 p.c in 2024, in comparison with the three.4 p.c beforehand forecast in October 2023.
Eregha stated exporting crude oil and gasoline is the panacea to sidestep the looming slowdown.
“Authorities ought to step up efforts to deal with oil theft within the Niger Delta to scale up manufacturing output.
“This may allow the nation to fulfill its Group of the Petroleum Exporting Nations (OPEC) quota and enhance our finances revenues,” Eregha stated.
He famous that the federal authorities should proceed to implement financial reforms that might enhance the enterprise surroundings for funding.
He stated the federal government should be extra proactive in addressing insecurity challenges to encourage extra international direct funding.
Economist Dr. Mc-Antony Dike additionally stated the federal authorities ought to make investments extra within the productive sector of the financial system to spice up progress.
Dike, a former president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITAN), stated injecting more cash into the agricultural sector would facilitate financial progress.
Such investments, he stated, ought to primarily be in money crops as a result of they supply high-yield earnings on the worldwide market.
“Our agriculture sector has over time been the biggest contributor to the nation's Gross Home Product (GDP) earlier than the insecurity challenges,” Dike stated.
He famous that the federal government ought to prioritize gasoline exploitation as a further supply of earnings to facilitate the expansion of the financial system.
“The regulator ought to begin initiating three way partnership initiatives with worldwide oil corporations (OIC) for the exploitation of our gasoline and its impression on our tax revenues.
“Our gasoline reserves are one of many largest on the earth and are sometimes sought as a result of it’s a cleaner type of vitality,” Dike stated.
