• Says N7.3tr CBN’s overdraft fully paid
• $2.25b World Bank loan expected in 2-weeks
• $7b oil & gas investment inflows expected
• Petrol subsidy removal still ongoing

Ongoing economic reforms initiated by the Federal Government are yielding positive results, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Wale Edun said yesterday.

They will, in no distant time, return the economy to the path of sustainable growth and drive down inflation drastically, the minister, who spoke on television programme monitored from Lagos, said.

Edun listed the milestone achievements triggered by the various reforms as including the gradual return of domestic and foreign investors’ confidence to the economy.

He said the government has paid N7.3 trillion overdraft from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the “Ways and Means” policy in line with government’s fiscal discipline priorities.

The minister also disclosed that $2.25 billion low interest facility from the World Bank will be drawn-down in the next two weeks even as $7 billion foreign capital inflows are expected into the oil and gas sector of the economy.

On declining inflation and naira stability, Edun added that more foreign capitals have made inroads to the economy to boost FX liquidity.

He said: “I would say Mr. President Bola Tinubu has in his first year achieved relative stability of the economy. He has put it on a track of growth. And he has put together a package of intervention measures in agriculture in particular, which needs to be redoubled.

“They need to be re-emphasised and they need to be further extended in order to have the full effect. So, on the one hand, the macroeconomic measures which everybody knows were taken to save the economy, basically and bring it back from the edge of financial bankruptcy and in the foreign exchange markets from chaos, and illiquid.”

He, however, admitted that the initial measures taken to stabilise the economy has led to an inflationary spike in terms of the cost of fuel and secondly, in terms of the exchange rate, and also in terms of interest rates.

According to him, the CBN’s measures against inflation have started bearing fruit at a time when interest rates are high, which normally means that businesses find it hard to borrow and invest.

He said: “The economy is growing. People are finding sources of funding sources of equity, including government, putting in its own share of private public sector, funding for infrastructure in particular, and that is helping to create jobs and grow the economy.

“But on the other hand, inflation is high at 33.69 per cent and food inflation at 40.5 per cent, which is worrisome, but the fact is that inflation is coming down month by month, for it’s down to about 2.3 per cent month-on-month from nearly three per cent.”

On what was done to cushion the initial pains triggered by the reforms, Edun informed that the payment of N75,000 to households through the social intervention programmes.

 Expressing confidence on imminent food prices and availability, the minister said: “That is the commitment that is the focus of government. We particularly have an eye as a coordinating minister. I have a group that’s looking at the presidential panel on social investment programmes.

“Not only have we put in place a very robust and transparent system for paying people directly under the existing programme, we are also now sitting together and looking at food availability and nutrition. So, we have a group that sits every week and focuses on providing additional food under these particular circumstances.”

He, however, described food security problem as a global phenomenon, which according to him, faces 30 per cent of the world’s population.

Nigeria, the minister said, “is tackling its own side of the crisis”.

 He said the government has improved the investment climate for oil and gas, noting that in the nearest future, the measures put in place in the sector will unlock $7 billion of foreign direct (fdi) investment.

Edun also noted that the investments in agriculture will raise output and drive down food inflation, adding that the removal of subsidy on petrol has rubbed off on the naira-dollar exchange.