An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team which concluded a two-week visit to Nigeria on Monday has advised that the country turned to its economic team and new advisory council to design and monitor a comprehensive package to measures that would spur growth and reduce its vulnerabilities.
The team which discussed recent economic and financial developments, update macroeconomic projections and reviewed reform implementation in Nigeria, called for action on a coherent and coordinated set of policies in the face of slow economic recovery, increasing external vulnerabilities, and elevated fiscal deficits that has seen the federal government rely on the central bank for bailouts-complicating monetary policy.
“A comprehensive package of measures-whose design and implementation will require close coordination within the economic team and newly-appointed Economic Advisory Council-is urgently needed to reduce vulnerabilities and raise growth,” said Amine Mati, the team lead.
Team of the Brentwood institution also said the reliance of the federal government on CBN financing should be addressed by an ambitious fiscal consolidation plan built on plans outlined in the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative, while the visiting staff called for more conventional tools for tightening monetary policy.