See Four-Year Report Card of Team Buhari (2015-2019) – Part 3...

Since her emergence as Finance Minister about eight months ago following the sudden resignation of her predecessor, Kemi Adeosun, over certificate forgery, not much has happened under Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, reports

n spite of the economy exiting recession, there had been a subdued economic outlook, with downside risks persisting.

During the recent Article IV consultation in Nigeria by a team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists to assess economic and financial developments and discuss the country’s economic and financial policies with government and central bank officials, many things stood out.

The IMF observed that although the Nigerian economy exited recession (real GDP increased by 1.9 per cent in 2018, up from 0.8 per cent in 2017), however growth is still too weak as a result of persisting structural challenges.

Among the team's observations include large infrastructure gap, low revenue mobilisation, governance and institutional weaknesses, and banking sector vulnerabilities, which according to the IMF, are dampening long-term foreign and domestic investment and keeping the economy reliant on volatile oil prices and production.

The IMF also noted that the current economic expansion is below where it ought to be to reduce poverty and improve human development indices, such as healthcare and education.

For the IMF, policy choices such as continued foreign exchange restrictions, and petrol subsidies are the major culprits.

It noted that over the medium term, absence of strong reforms, growth would hover around 2½ per cent, implying no per capita growth as the economy faces limited increases in oil production and insufficient adjustment four years after the oil price shock. Asphyxiating Debt Burden

There has been growing apprehension over the nation's burgeoning debt burden. This concern was again reinforced by the IMF during the recent Article IV Consultations.

Acccording to the IMF, interest payments by the