More reasons on why forex scarcity has defiled many fiscal policies of the government have been revealed. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, weekend said that 30 per cent of the Nigeria’s demand for foreign exchange was for fuel importation.
Adeosun stated this in Lagos at the launch of “First Gem” , a product of First Bank of Nigeria Ltd., aimed at empowering women through wealth creation.
She said that government was working very hard to transform the country from consumption driven to investment driven nation.
While noting that it was disheartening that Nigeria exports crude oil and imports petroleum, Adeosun decried that “We lose a lot of money exporting unprocessed raw materials. We don’t have the power to process and that’s why we need to build infrastructure to export processed products in order to earn more foreign exchange.”
“If we have an enabling infrastructure such as power, roads , among others, cost of doing business in Nigeria will reduce drastically.”
She disclosed further that funds borrowed by the government would be tied to capital projects to boost infrastructure development.
