The Federal Government says Nigeria’s economy is in good shape despite the tensions rocking the Middle East occasioned by the Iran-US/Israel war.
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance of Wale Edun, said this during an exclusive interview aired on Wednesday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“We are on our way out of the woods. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel as long as we stay the course,” Edun said.
“The global shocks are a factor. It is the resilience against global shocks that you can keep going when things change drastically at the international level,” he stated.
“That resilience is what we are trying to build in the economy, and that is what we have built so far. Of all the things that have happened till date, Ukraine has continued beyond what people expected, and of course, we have this new flare-up in the Middle East.
“Through all these global events and shocks, the Nigerian economy has managed to stay on course, with exchange rates stable, reserves building up, and growth accelerating. It is that trajectory we are now concerned with protecting.”
During the interview, Edun also spoke about the hike in the cost of fuel and attributed it to market realities.
“The market price for petroleum products is what has been instilled by Mr. President—a mechanism that was missing for so long. It is important to understand that this is not a one-way street,” the minister.
“We have seen Dangote [Refinery] reduce prices from around 1,200 Naira to just over 1,000 or 1,050 Naira; those are the natural dynamics of the market.”
He said, “the resilience that the Nigerian economy has is coming largely from the fact that we do have that investment by the private sector, by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, in refining, and we need to support our refiners just as others are supporting them to keep petroleum products flowing.
Leave a Reply