The strategy development meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that started yesterday will end today with the hope of coming up with a flexible solution capable of easing recession.
The two-day meeting began in Abuja on Thursday under the auspices of the Fiscal Liquidity Assessment Committee (FLAC).
The FLAC is an inter-agency committee comprising technocrats from the CBN, Federal Ministry of Finance, Debt Management Office, Accountant-General, and the revenue generating agencies.
The apex bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said to surmount the current economic crisis, it was crucial for the fiscal and monetary authorities to work together in a coordinated manner.
He said, “As you are aware, the economy formally slipped into a recession in the second quarter of 2016.
He said “This marked the culmination of damaging effects of external and domestic shocks to the economy,” stressing that “The after effect of this are weakened fiscal revenues, dwindling foreign reserves, exchange rate pressures and it’s passed through to domestic prices”.
According to him, “The quick fixes to the economic crisis include fiscal stimulus to resuscitate domestic production and qualitative public sector spending to stimulate aggregate demand.”
CBN also argued that diversifying the economy away from oil into agriculture, manufacturing, increased capital expenditure and improved internal revenue generation were solutions the government was looking into.
In her remarks, the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, CBN, Mrs Sarah Alade, said the use of monetary policies to stabilise the economy has been over stretched.
She reiterated the need for a complimentary fiscal policy options and strategies in releasing the structural pressure points that spiraled the country’s economic problems.
Experts say presentations from key revenue points of the government including the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation are expected to make lead solutions to government dwindling revenue.
