By Gbenga Abulude
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, says that the country is going for another recession. unless Nigeria achieves a very strong third quarter 2020 economic performance,
Mrs Ahmed made this known at the opening of a five-day interactive session on the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), held in Abuja on Thursday.
She was represented by Mr Clement Agba, the minister of state for finance. and said that the COVID-19 pandemic had put further pressure on Nigeria’s foreign exchange.
The minister said, “Nigeria is exposed to spikes in risk aversion in the global capital market, which will put further pressure on the foreign exchange market as foreign portfolio investors exit the Nigerian market,”
“Nigeria’s Q2 GDP growth is in all likelihood negative and unless we achieve a very strong Q3 2020 economic performance, the Nigerian economy is likely to lapse into a second recession in four years with significant adverse consequences.
“In response to the developments affecting the supply of foreign exchange to the economy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adjusted the official exchange rate to N360, and more recently to N379.”
The minister added that the disruptions in global trade and logistics would also negatively affect customs duty collections in 2020.
According to her, COVID-19 containment measures, although necessary, have inhibited domestic economic activities, with consequential negative impact on taxation and other government revenues.
“Consequently, the projections for customs duty, stamp duty, value-added tax, and company income tax revenues were recently reviewed downwards in the revised 2020 budget,” she said.
The interactive session, was organised by the house of representatives committee on finance, and chaired by Honourable James Faleke, lawmaker representing Ikeja federal constituency.
