The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is not planning to remove petrol subsidies at the moment as recommended by the International Monetary Fund, the Nigerian Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed on Sunday.
“There is no imminent plan to remove fuel subsidies,” the Minister said at a press conference in Washington D.C. at the end of the 2019 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings.
ZAINAB AHMED, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and head of the Nigerian delegation at the 2019 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings addresses journalists in Washington D.C. on Sunday April 14, 2019. Photo: EMMANUEL IKODOR, TODAY NEWS AFRICA
There is no imminent plan to remove fuel subsidies – Nigeria’s finance minister says in Washington D.C.
GODWIN EMIEFELE, the Central Bank Governor at the 2019 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings addresses journalists in Washington D.C. on Sunday April 14, 2019. Photo: EMMANUEL IKODOR, TODAY NEWS AFRICA
She said she agreed in principle that removing fuel subsidies to invest in infrastructure was good, but not without necessary buffers to cushion the resulting negative effects, adding that those buffers are nonexistent in Nigeria at the moment.
ZAINAB AHMED, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and head of the Nigerian delegation at the 2019 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings addresses journalists in Washington D.C. on Sunday April 14, 2019. Photo: EMMANUEL IKODOR, TODAY NEWS AFRICA
“We are not yet at a the point of removing fuel subsidies,” she added.
UDOMA UDO UDOMA, Minister of Budget and National Planning at the 2019 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings addresses journalists in Washington D.C. on Sunday April 14, 2019. Photo: EMMANUEL IKODOR, TODAY NEWS AFRICA
As the head of the Nigerian delegation in the Spring Meetings, the Minister addressed journalists alongside the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emiefele and Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and National Planning.
ZAINAB AHMED, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and head of the Nigerian delegation at the 2019 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings addresses journalists in Washington D.C. on Sunday April 14, 2019, along with GODWIN EMIEFELE, the Central Bank Governor, and UDOMA UDO UDOMA, Minister of Budget and National Planning. Photo: EMMANUEL IKODOR, TODAY NEWS AFRICA
We are not yet at a the point of removing fuel subsidies
Ahmed and others characterized the Spring Meetings as a clear validation that the Nigerian economy was healthy, having exited recession and starting to grow again.
ZAINAB AHMED, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and head of the Nigerian delegation at the 2019 World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings addresses journalists in Washington D.C. on Sunday April 14, 2019, along with UDOMA UDO UDOMA, Minister of Budget and National Planning. Photo: EMMANUEL IKODOR, TODAY NEWS AFRICA
According to Emiefele, the Nigerian economy is on a healthy trajectory with an inflation rate at about 11 percent and with increased foreign reserves.
To Udoma, the economy is healthy and growing, however it will take time for momentum to build up.
Born in a small village in Cameroon, groomed in Nigeria's most populous city of Lagos, and now in Washington D.C. to practice journalism at a global level, Simon is an investigative journalist and publisher of TODAY NEWS AFRICA based in Washington DC
Born in a small village in Cameroon, groomed in Nigeria's most populous city of Lagos, and now in Washington D.C. to practice journalism at a global level, Simon is an investigative journalist and publisher of TODAY NEWS AFRICA based in Washington DC
