CBN, Fiscal Authorities Meet on Recession

• CBN, Fiscal Authorities Meet on Recession

Faced with a recessive economy, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the fiscal authorities are meeting to restrategise on how to take the economy out of the economic doldrums.

The two-day meeting began in Abuja on Thursday under the auspices of the Fiscal Liquidity Assessment Committee.

The FLAC is an inter-agency committee comprising technocrats from the CBN, Federal Ministry of Finance, Debt Management Office, Accountant-General, and the revenue generating agencies.

The Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said to surmount the current economic crisis, it was crucial for the fiscal and monetary authorities to work together in a coordinated manner.

He said, “As you are aware, the economy formally slipped into a recession in the second quarter of 2016.

“This marked the culmination of damaging effects of external and domestic shocks to the economy.

“The after effect of this are weakened fiscal revenues, dwindling foreign reserves, exchange rate pressures and it’s passed through to domestic prices.

“The quick fixes to the economic crisis include fiscal stimulus to resuscitate domestic production and qualitative public sector spending to stimulate aggregate demand.”

Emefiele said also that diversifying the economy away from oil into agriculture, manufacturing, increased capital expenditure and improved internal revenue generation were solutions the government was looking into.

Similarly, the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, CBN, Mrs Sarah Alade, said the use of monetary policies to stabilise the economy has been over stretched.

She reiterated the need for a complimentary fiscal policy options and strategies in releasing the structural pressure points that spiraled the country’s economic problems.

The Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation are expected to make presentations and brainstorm on solutions to government dwindling revenue.