Nigerian
Senate Reveals $9Billion Has Been Used To Defend The Naira By FG
The Senate
on Tuesday said the sum of $9 billion had been spent by the federal government
to defend the naira.
It expressed
worry that only 10 per cent of the N7.4 trillion 2017 budget has so far been
implemented barely three months to the end of the year.
Senator
Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi) who sponsored a motion on stabilising and
sustaining post recession growth of the economy, argued that the level of
harmony between the fiscal and monetary policies of government remained “very
low.”
He expressed
frustration over the inadequate funding of the 2017 budget by the executive,
fearing it could pull the country back into a recession.
Consequently,
the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma and the
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun were both summoned to appear in plenary
to explain the failure to fund the budget.
The motion
was unanimously passed by the upper legislature chamber.
Abdullahi
tasked the national economy managers to remain focused and ensure that the
current weak growth of a mere 0.55 percent is built upon and increased
substantially in the months and years to come.
The Senate
however, urged both the fiscal and monetary authorities to come together and
harmonise policies with a view to drastically reducing the high interest rate
that has adversely affected borrowing for investment by the real sector of the
economy.
It called on
fiscal authorities to drastically reduce the accumulation of domestic debt in
order to free the market for better access by the private sector.
Senator
Barau Jibril (APC, Kano State) who seconded the motion asked that the managers
of the nation’s economy be put on their toes so that they would not be
complacent.
He argued
that the failure to release money to fund the budget had become a serious
threat to the economy.
Senator Dino
Melaye (APC, Kogi West) claimed that “our economic managers are just joggling
the economy using ways and means to manipulate it.”
According to
him: “If it is true that the foreign reserve has grown from $25 billion to $34
billion, why are we incapacitated in funding the 2017 budget? We must say the
truth. We must go back to the drawing board and take key decisions. We must
engage in massive production and we must engage in massive spending too. What
we have done is not a geniune approach to addressing the problem of the economy
and getting outbof recession.”
Senator
Biodun Olujumi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Ekiti State while
noting that Nigeria is only technically out of recession but still languishing
in economic quagmire, lamented that barely three months to the end of the year,
the 2017 budget had not recorded 10 per cent implementation.
She said the
major problem is that the economic managers were yet to develop a viable
economic blue print.
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