Delayed budget: Don’t expect much in Q2 – Economist

An economist, Prof. Sheriffdeen Tella, on Monday, advised Nigerians not to expect much from the nation’s economy in the second quarter following continuous delay in the passage of the 2018 Budget.

Tella, a Professor of Economics from Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye in Ogun State, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Prof. Onabanjo said the economy would not witness meaningful growth unless the budget was passed on time to complement the monetary policy to be introduced by the newly inaugurated Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

He said, “It takes time for implemented policies to have effect on the economy. Therefore, we should not expect much improvement in output of the capital market and the economy at large.”

He further said the capital market was largely bearish in the first quarter of the year, while the economy remained sluggish in spite of positive indices.

“Both are symptomatic of an unsettled economy where government’s macro-economic policy is unpredictable. This is so because both fiscal and monetary policies have not been put in place due to the perilous activities of the legislature. We can recall that up till now, the 2018 Budget has not been passed.

“So, fiscal policy and fiscal actions have been put on hold throughout the period. The Central Bank’s monetary policy membership committee was not properly constituted to meet and fashion out monetary policies due to failure of the legislature to approve new members submitted for consideration. Where you have such situation, the policy environment cannot be conducive for business activities to thrive,” Tella said.

NAN reports that the National Assembly had on March 27, postponed the approval of the 2018 Budget until May.

This is contrary to the expectations that the 2018 Budget estimate of N8.612 trillion will be passed by April.

The Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Rep. Mustapha Dawaki, had on Tuesday explained that if the budget was not passed by April 24, then the N2.06tn 2017 capital budget would run until May 31.

Dawaki made this known at the 2018 National Budget Hearing in Abuja which was jointly organised by the senate and house committees on appropriation. (NAN)