FG affirms Nigeria’s revenue challenge compounds debt problem
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, stated that the nation's revenue challenges are heightening the country’s debt problem, necessitating the need to improve earnings as well as the ease of doing business.
Buhari equally said it is true that what matters right now is the county's debt service to revenue ratio which is undoubtedly high but admitted that increasing revenues should henceforth engage most of the government's attention.
The President however assured that the country is already witnessing real improvements from the nonoil revenues, warning that the government must now focus more on productivity and encourage value addition.
President Muhammadu Buhari stated this yesterday while declaring open the 28th Nigeria Economic Summit Group [ NESG] holding in Abuja.
He said the theme for the 28th Summit ' 2023 & Beyond: Priorities for Shared Prosperity' calls on stakeholders to reflect on what the nation's priorities should be to attain inclusive prosperity from 2023 and beyond., adding that this is an important question given the frightening headwinds of the past three years and the emerging local and global trends that will most certainly define the future.
Represented by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, Buhari said that productivity and value addition means creation of traceable value, jobs, opportunities and it also means more tax revenues.
He stressed that to increase productivity, Nigeria must free up her environment for business, make local and international trade easier by fixing the ports, effecting the national single window, revamping our customs processes and tariff codes to reduce delays and arbitrariness, removing needless restrictions on imports to enable value added processes.
According to the President, '' Our exchange rate regime remains of concern, the discussion that we must have is how best to manage the situation by finding a mechanism for increasing supply and moderating demand which will be transparent and will boost confidence."