Halt Foreign Borrowing, ImproveTax Revenue, MoghaluTells FG

The Founder/President, Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has advised the federal government to establish a moratorium on foreign borrowing and develop measures to improve tax revenue.

Moghalu, who was the Presidential Candidate in the Young Progressive Party in the 2019 election, made the recommendation in a statement titled: “Beyond Minimum Wage: The Limits of Populism and the Need for Fundamental Economic Reforms,” to mark the recently celebrated 2019 Workers’ Day.

In addition, Moghalu who called for the removal of fuel subsidy in the country, advised the federal government to develop and establish, in consultation with labour unions, a set of policies to mitigate the likely short-term inflationary impact and to permanently end such subsides as from the budget for 2020.

Also, he recommended the deregulation of the importation and sale of petrol in order to produce a market-determined price of petrol and mitigate adverse inflationary effects in the medium term.

“The federal government should establish a moratorium on foreign borrowing alongside measures to improve taxation revenue.

“FGN should commence a progressive reduction of recurrent expenditure by 10 per cent every budget year from 2020.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should abolish differential exchange rates and establish a uniform exchange rate for all transactions.

“The CBN should abolish the ban on provision of foreign exchange for the importation of most or all of the 40 items denied forex; prior to this action the Federal Ministries of Finance and Industries, Trade and Investment should establish appropriate tariffs for the imports of luxury and non-essential items while creating policy to give reasonable advantages for locally manufactured goods, including enhanced export incentives, in order to realign the Nigerian economy towards competitive manufacturing for domestic and export markets,” the former CBN Deputy Governor said.

Furthermore, he urged the federal government to submit an Executive Bill for the abolition of the Land Use Act; stating that according to a study by PwC, this legislation and policy action would liberate hundreds of billions of dollars of “dead” capital (potential but suppressed financial values in land and