The International Monetary Fund and the Central Bank of Nigeria have disagreed over the projections of the Bretton Woods institution concerning the nation’s economic outlook for 2017.
IMF in its Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa projected that real Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria will close the year at 0.8 per cent, while inflation would remain elevated at 17.5 per cent.
The global bank also advised Nigeria to implement greater foreign exchange flexibility and eliminate exchange rate restrictions on 41 items.
The report said, “Oil price recovery is insufficient to repair the imbalances in resource rich countries, while monetary policy normalisation in the United States is poised to worsen external financing conditions.
“For the hardest-hit resource-intensive countries, fiscal consolidation remains urgently needed to halt decline in international reserves and to offset The shareholders also condemned the directive by the CBN for banks to set aside five per cent of their profit after tax for Export Fund, saying that the apex bank should not force the banks to do that ; rather banks should be encourage to fund the export businesses.
Commenting further on the performance of the bank, another shareholder, Mr. Alex Adio, said, “We dislike the actions taken by the CBN imposing high penalty on our bank for offences committed by the staff.
Does the CBN want to kill the banks operating in the country? For Fidelity Bank alone the apex bank BRIEF GBfoods partners Helios to create pan African company permanent revenue losses.”
It added, “In countries where exchange rate tool is available (Angola, Nigeria), greater exchange rate flexibility and the elimination of exchange restrictions that are inflicting serious harm on the real economy should be part of a coherent policy package.
“Even the modest rebound to two and half per cent expected in 2017 will be to a large extent driven by one-off factors in the three largest countries – a recovery of oil production in Nigeria, higher public spending ahead of elections in Angola, and the fading of drought in South Africa – combined with modest improvements in their terms of trade.”
However, Director, Monetary Policy Department, CBN, Mr. Moses Tule, said implementing the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan would ensure outcomes different from the predictions of IMF.
