Minister of Finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun said yesterday at the ongoing IMF/World Bank annual meetings that some foreign investors have made commitment to invest in infrastructure in Nigeria. Speaking to journalist after a session with the IMF, she said We had a very good meeting. We had presentations by the World Bank, and also by the managing director of the IMF, on the outlook of the global economy. “We were able to make one or two contributions on behalf of Nigeria, one of which was really the need for accelerated investment in Infrastructure, as the way out of our current situation. “That is what we believe will create jobs, that is what we believe will reduce poverty. We made that intervention and got some commitments from the multilateral agencies, that they will support our investment in infrastructure by using creative financial instrument that will attract more money to add to what we have in the budget to enable us to attack our infrastructure gap”.
“They spoke specifically about housing and energy, that is power, that they would support us on how to get concessional money into power. The other issue that was raised is the issue of tax evasion and the fact that we need the multilateral agencies to support us. The trade is very important, but we need the multilaterals to also support us to ensure that multinational companies that trade in Nigeria specifically, and emerging markets generally pay their fair share of taxes, and that point was well taken.
Supporting the minister Mr. Barkindo OPEC General secretary said there was good prospect for oil recovery. According to him there is “Very good prospects, as I explained in my statement, at least we have been able to avert a further price slump, after Algiers, as was widely expected by the markets. If you recall, before we went to Algiers, the expectations was that it was going to be another Doha, but thank God we have not witnessed that. Infact, since Algiers, we have seen prices, rebounding by almost seven percent, which is very significant, and the momentum is on the upside.
“We at OPEC also submitted our statement, bringing the distinguished group up to recent short term development, including the outcome of our last conference in Algiers, and the immediate prospect. The Algiers meeting was very positive, not only for Nigeria, but for the entire group, and if you recall, Nigeria, with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Libya, are being considered as countries undergoing certain special circumstances, as unfortunate as they are, therefore, should not be treated along with the with the other 11 members. This is a big relief to our system, and our colleagues from central bank.”
Adeosun also said Well, I think the intervention is a two-way street of dialogue. They are hearing from us, what we are doing, and we are hearing from us what’s on offer, and what we have to do now is to go out into individual meetings and actually tie up some of these arrangements and tie them to specific projects, and that is what we’ll be doing in the next few days. “We are not seeking loans from the IMF, the IMF simply gave us technical support. We are seeking budget support loans from the World Bank and from the AfDB and we are making progress with that. We do not have a balance of payment problem, and that is what the IMF looks to support country through. We have the fiscal challenge with our budget, therefore, we are looking for budget support, which is what the World Bank and the AfDB will do.
