Buhari

The Director-General of the African Development Bank Group’s Nigeria Country Department, Mr. Lamin Barrow, has express worry the Nigerian government’s plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030 might be a Mirage given the high rate of unemployment and income inequality in the country.

Speaking while representing the AfDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, as a panelist at an investors’ webinar to showcase the investment opportunities in Nigeria’s privatisation and economic reform programme on Tuesday.

According to him, the recovery in crude oil prices, increase in the Value Added Tax rate to 7.5 per cent and elimination of fuel subsidies would provide some fiscal relief for the Nigeria economy. According to him, there are high fiscal risks due to reliance on oil, weakness in non-oil revenues and high debt service payments, and the other risks to medium-term growth for the country include inflation, insecurity, and high unemployment. He said, “Fiscal risks are likely to remain elevated in the medium-term due to high dependence on oil receipts, weaknesses in non-oil revenues (less than four per cent of GDP) and high debt service payments (exceeding 60 per cent of federally retained revenues) amidst spending pressures.