For the speedy reforms so far carried out by President Bola Tinubu to boost the economy, there is need for increased and meaningful spending in the areas of infrastructure and social welfare, Bismarck Rewane, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited has said.
“To achieve accelerated economic growth, one step to take is adopting adequate policy reforms. Thankfully, Nigeria is on this path. In less than three weeks in office, the president pronounced major reforms including the removal of the 46-year-old fuel subsidy and de-segmentation of the exchange rate market”.
His concern is that, while these reforms have immediate economic consequences like erosion of household purchasing power and squeezed margins for corporations, these reforms have become stepping-stones to boosting the economy.
To this end, he advised that the only way to complement the reforms and support economic growth, ” is a need for increased and meaningful government spending, particularly on critical infrastructure and social welfare”.
Rewane who made this known in its FDC Monthly publication yesterday, warned that, though it “seems Nigeria is not in full crisis mode yet, the weak macroeconomic fundamentals point to a fragile economy and the right policy cocktail is needed now more than ever”.
He added that, the adoption of a single exchange rate window and a “willing buyer-willing seller” exchange rate model is expected to reduce currency risks and bolster investor confidence as the exchange rate becomes more stable and predictable.
“Expectedly, the exchange rate will be volatile in the short term, overshooting its fair value. Already, the official rate of the naira has moved from being overvalued at N462/$ to N768/$, closer to the parallel market rate of N773/$. This quick convergence will keep reducing currency risks, improving forex market efficiency, and bolstering investor confidence”, he said.
Rewane said, reforms cannot happen in isolation, innovation is also key.
