Government moves to streamline tax waivers for economic growth
. Optimism as naira sees gradual rise
TFrom Abuja HE Federal Government has created an Incentive Monitoring and Evaluation Platform ( IMEP) aimed at cutting down the c ost of tax expenditure and ensuring tax incentives positively impact the economy.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating
Minister of the Econo my, Wale Edun, who stated this in Abuja yesterday , explained that the key features of the platform include a duty claw- back mechanism, e- report generation and a centralized database.
Other features include factory geo- location tagging, industry qualification status validation, inter- MDA integration incentive tracking and issuance of Demand Notices to defaulters.
The minister also hinted that the overall intention is to reduce tax expenditures due to the granting of Import Duty Exemption Certificates ( IDEC).
He said: “This system is designed to provide a framework to check- mate and restrict ineligible applicants, enforce strict compliance to fiscal policy measures and provide a robust impact analysis of tax incentives on the economy. This would further eliminate the misuse of tax expenditures; support the delivery of economic outcomes from fiscal incentives and strengthen the direct measurement of the impact of tax incentives on the economy.”
The electronic monitoring and evaluation framework in addition to the current IDEC process provides the Federal Ministry of Finance with a robust automated tool for more effective monitoring and evaluation measurement of the impact of all customs duty exemptions issued by the Ministry, government entities, companies, NGOS and international organisations.
MEANWHILE, the naira has maintained a steady rebound in the last week strengthening to about N1,100 to the dollar from about N1,900 it was a few weeks ago.
But can the naira maintain this strong stance against major currencies in the long term? Though experts differ on the staying power of the naira, it was agreed that there is a need for monetary authorities to remain true to steps that have resulted in this and the fiscal authorities to complement the monetary side with trade policies that are aimed at boosting export as well as curtail oil theft in the Niger Delta.
There is also the urgent need to rally diasporan remittances to boost forex inflows.
A former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group ( NESG), Kyari Bukar, expressed optimism that with the right framework, diasporan remittances could surpass N25 billion.
His words: “Diaspora Nigerians will begin to bring in more dollars into the market; it used to be ₦ 25 billion but went down to less than ₦ 20 billion in the last two years or so. This year, we should be able to breach that ₦ 25 billion and above. And if you think about it, diaspora Nigerians' remittances are higher than oil receipts.”