GEJ you've heard her no more borrowing again at least until after 2015:
The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo–
Iweala, has on Tuesday said in spite of the
reduction of oil price in the international
market, the economy is growing positively.
Okonjo-Iweala, stated this at the 2014
Ministerial Platform in Abuja, said the nation
was not broke as being speculated in the
media.
She said ``if you look back two years ago, that
title `is Nigeria broke‘ was written in a
newspaper article, it is like people are trying
to force Nigeria into brokerage.
``I think since two years, we have managed
to keep things going, let me explain these;
Nigeria is a country that depends on a stream
of income.
``That income is being able to collect taxes
from companies, individuals and our income
is also based on selling a product and that
product you take to market and you take
whatever price a buyer is willing to pay.’’
According to her, government is doing
everything within its power to ensure
economic stability in the country.
She said that presently, government had been
budgeting below the existing oil price to help
build buffers in case of uncertainty.
``We are operating an economy that depends
on a product that fluctuates with oil price and
we don’t have the right to control the price.
``Just like you have in your own household,
when the quantity diminishes or the price
drops, you remember in 2007 to 2008, the
price of oil dropped from 140 dollars to 38
dollars.
``At that time, nobody asked if the country
was broke because we had saved up 22 billion
dollars in the Excess Crude Account and we
were able to continue spending and to stablise
the economy.’’
The minister said that presently Nigeria was
faced with fluctuations in quantity and price
of oil, adding that it had affected the amount
paid into government coffers.
``Does that mean that the country is broke?
We still have resources that we depend on; we
still have the ability to tax.
``Sometimes, things need to be a little
tighter, easier and we just have to weather it
and manage ourselves but that does not
amount to the country being broke.’’
The finance minister said if government was
not able to pay salaries to people and
continue to manage, ``then we can say that
the country is broke but we have not gotten
there yet.’’
She urged Nigerians to bear with the nature
of the economy, adding that it was the reason
every effort was challenged to ensure the
economy was diversified.
Commenting on the management of the fiscal
deficit, she said that the Ministry of Finance
would continue to ensure that it was kept as
narrow as possible.
She said that in 2013, the debt to Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) ration was 1.4 per
cent and 1.03 per cent in 2014 and projected
to be one per cent in 2015 budget. .
She added that borrowing had been on the
decline and external debt stood at N1.46
trillion or 14 per cent of the total debt.
The ministry had adopted prudence to debt
management and Nigeria’s debt to GDP
remained one of the lowest in the world.
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