Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has stated that the Federal Government plans a Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth rate of 42 per cent, with the implementation of Budget 2016.
In an article, the minister said the full implementation of the budget will see to the recovery from the slowing GDP growth and forestall the remote possibility of a recession.
The Minister wrote: “The administration is also determined to reduce the cost of governance, extract efficiencies in public service and enhance revenue collections.”
“The administration plans to increase government expenditure on infrastructure i.e. transport, roads, housing and power with a view to achieving a substantial increase in gross capital formation and to fund the budget deficit and the negative trade balance in a cost effective and efficient manner, which will keep the government within the acceptable debt sustainable ratio that is expected of most emerging economies.”
The Minister, who acknowledged the impact of the sliding oil prices on Nigeria’s economy, said: “Our main macroeconomic objective is to use a government expenditure-led growth strategy in 2016, combined with a stimulant approach based on injections of more efficiently collected revenues and blocking of leakages. The combination of these fiscal injections will have a catalytic multiplier effect on the GDP growth rate.”
”The budget deficit is estimated at N2.2trn or 2.16 per cent of GDP based on an estimated benchmark oil price of $38pb. In view of present realities and the dynamics in the global oil markets, we have braced ourselves for the probability of a further decline in oil prices,” she said.